PISCATAWAY, N.J., USA, 5 April 2005 The IEEE
has approved work to begin on an amendment to the
IEEE 802.11(TM) standard for wireless local area networks
(WLAN). The project under development involves a wireless
LAN standard amendment for WLAN devices to support
protection of management frames.
IEEE P802.11w(TM), "Amendment to Standard for
Information Technology--Telecommunications and Information
Exchange between systems--Local and Metropolitan Area
networks--Specific requirements--Part 11: Wireless
LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer
(PHY) specifications: Protected Management Frames,"
will provide enhancements to the IEEE 802.11 Medium
Access Control layer to make available mechanisms
that enable data integrity, data origin authenticity,
replay protection, and data confidentiality for selected
IEEE 802.11 management frames.
The Task Group developing IEEE P802.11w is focused
on improving the security of IEEE 802.11 management
frames, including but not limited to action management
frames and deauthentication and disassociation frames.
IEEE P802.11w is sponsored by the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN
Standards Committee of the IEEE Computer Society.
For further information on this amendment and other
IEEE 802 standards projects, visit http://www.ieee802.org.
About the IEEE Standards Association
The IEEE Standards Association, a globally recognized
standards-setting body, develops consensus standards
through an open process that brings diverse parts
of an industry together. These standards set specifications
and procedures based on current scientific consensus.
The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of more than 870 completed
standards and more than 400 standards in development.
For information on IEEE-SA see: http://standards.ieee.org/.
About the IEEE
The IEEE has more than 360,000 members in approximately
175 countries. Through its members, the organization
is a leading authority on areas ranging from aerospace,
computers and telecommunications to biomedicine, electric
power and consumer electronics. The IEEE produces
nearly 30 percent of the world's literature in the
electrical and electronics engineering, computing
and control technology fields. This nonprofit organization
also sponsors or cosponsors more than 300 technical
conferences each year. Additional information about
the IEEE can be found at http://www.ieee.org.
IEEE 802.11 and IEEE P802.11w are
trademarks of the IEEE. All other names or product
names are the trademarks, service marks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders.
