While it does support server certificate validation – a crucial component that defends against Man-in-the-Middle attacks, it’s not mandatory. EAP-TTLS/PAP for MacOSĪnother common authentication protocol due to its ease-of-use, the EAP-TTLS/PAP method is no better than PEAP, unfortunately.
This protocol is an easy pass for MacOS admins. We haven’t even mentioned how this PEAP protocol suffers from several known vulnerabilities, primarily that it does not support digital certificate authentication and relies on insecure credentials.
It’s possible, just unwieldy – an issue compounded by the fact that AD and PEAP-MSCAHPv2 are both antiquated and restricted to on-premise environments. If the idea of authenticating your MacOS devices through a mandatory Microsoft Identity Provider has you hesitant, you’re not alone. This scenario is far and away the most common as Microsoft has had a soft monopoly on server architecture for decades only within the last 10 or so years has the advent of cloud options disrupted their iron grip. PEAP is probably the single most used 802.1X protocol for a simple reason: it was built specifically to authenticate devices via LDAP in a Microsoft Active Directory environment. Let’s examine the three most common MacOS authentication protocols: PEAP-MSCHAPv2 for MacOS While there are dozens of 802.1X authentication protocols out there, only a handful see regular use. What 802.1X Protocol Should I Use for MacOS? These different versions can support different authentication methods (credentials, certificates, etc.) and provide varying levels of defense, but they all perform the essential duty of securing the authentication process. There are several versions of EAP, such as EAP-TLS or PEAP-MSCHAPv2. The EAP protocol creates an encrypted EAP tunnel around the authentication communication that prevents outside users from viewing the transaction. A common and highly secure method of protecting authentication is to use EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol). While 802.1X is the channel in which authentication information is sent from user to server, it must be protected from over-the-air attacks during this process. The RADIUS either sends an Accept or Denial of access which is passed back through the AP to the user attempting to connect. That information is relayed to the RADIUS server which can use a couple of methods to determine if the credentials are valid and if the user is authorized for access to the network. The user or device requesting network access sends their key, typically either a credential (such as passwords) or a digital certificate to the Access Point they are attempting to connect to. The diagram below is a simple, yet thorough, illustration of the steps that make up 802.1X authentication (for any operating system). 802.1X is the name of a family of authentication protocols that protect wired or wireless authentication by opening a secure network access port for authorized users.
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