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Service Set Identification (SSID)
The Service Set Identification (SSID) is a thirty-two alphanumeric character
(maximum) string identifying the wireless local area network. Some vendors
refer to the SS ID as network name. For stations to communicate with each other,
all stations must be configured with the same SSID.
A wireless LAN consisting of nodes operating in Ad-hoc configuration without
an access point is called a Basic Service Set (BSS). All nodes in a BSS must use
the same Basic Service Set ID (BSSID).
In an infrastructure configuration with access points, multiple BSS can be
configured to form an Extended Service Set (ESS). In this configuration, the
access points are configured with the same Extended Service Set ID (ESSID).
Wireless clients configured with the same ESSID can freely roam from one
Access Point domain to another and still maintain seamless connection to the
network
Authentication and WEP Encryption
The absence of a physical connection between nodes makes the wireless links
vulnerable to information theft. To provide certain level of security, IEEE
802.11 standard has defined two types of authentication methods, Open System
and Shared Key. Open System authentication is a null algorithm. Shared Key
authentication is an algorithm where both the transmitting node and the
receiving node share an authentication key to perform a checksum on the
original message. By default, IEEE 802.11 wireless devices operate in an open
system network.
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