WPA-PSK (AES) and WPA2-PSK, are they the same?

[VirtualLarry]

So, my understanding is that the initial version of WPA used TKIP, which was really RC4, but just changing the keys every N seconds. But some broadcom routers (Linksys WRT54G in particular) had a hardware AES encryption chip onboard, so they offered a choice of ciphers, either TKIP (RC4), or AES, with WPA mode.

Along comes WPA2, and with it, the default cipher becomes AES.

So, is WPA-PSK (AES), and WPA2-PSK directly compatible between each other?

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry


So, is WPA-PSK (AES), and WPA2-PSK directly compatible between each other?

From my understanding, no, they are not directly compatable. I know from experience that when setting my router to WPA2-PSK that my older devices will not connect. For some reason, my daughters new IPod touch won't connect. It will connect to WPA-PSK (AES) though. I set the router to hybrid (WPA/WPA2) and now everything works to the highest security for each device.

 

[spidey07]

No, they are different. WPA2 contains CCMP. WPA2 is part of the 802.11i standard, WPA is not.

 

[JackMDS]

For practical purpose they are the same.

Some Entry Level vendors Implementation is short of the full standard so they call it WPA-AES instead of WPA2.