Access Control and Identity Management, 3rd Edition



Network Authentication Protocols

Modern networks typically require that users authenticate before gaining access via both wired and wireless connections. The 802.1x protocol provides a framework for implementing authentication on a network. In 802.1x networks, there are three different roles held by components:

• The supplicant is the software running on the client that wishes to connect to the network.
• The authenticator is the network device that the client wishes to connect to, typically an Ethernet switch or a wireless access point.
• The authentication server is the server that validates requests for network access, using the RADIUS or EAP protocols.

We’ve already discussed RADIUS in this chapter, ...