Pre-Shared Key (PSK)

Authentication is very important for networks. In wireless networks, there are different authentication types. One of these wireless authentication types is Pre-Shared Key (PSK). In this lesson, we will learn the details of Pre-Shared Key (PSK) and we will learn Cisco PSK Configuration. Let’s firstly start with what is PSK?

What is PSK?

Pre-Shared Key (PSK) is an authentication type which is used in wireless networks. With PSK Authentication, a key string is used to authenticate the clients in the wireless network. So, on each wireless client, PSK should be configured with the same Pre-Shared Key in the network.

Pre-Shared Key (PSK) uses WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). There are three versions of WPA. These WPA Types are given below:

• WPA
• WPA2
• WPA3

We have talked about the details of WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) versions in another lesson.

You can also check Cisco Packet Tracer Configuration Examples and Cisco GNS3 Examples. 

What is WPA?

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) is basically a network security protocol used in wireless networks. The aim of this network security protocol is to secure the wireless networks.

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) supports two different authentication methods. These WPA authentication methods are given below:

• Personal
• Enterprise

Benefits of PSK

To use Pre-Shared Key (PSK) in a wireless network, there are different benefits. These are given below:

• Firstly, PSK is a simple protocol which we can setup easily.
• Any user can easily configure PSK in a wireless network. It is very user friendly.
• Pre-Shared Key (PSK) is a good alternative for the devices that do not support 1x.

Beside these benefits, there are also some disadvantages of using PSK. These disadvantages are given below:

First of all, all the devices which uses this authentication has the same Pre-Shared Key. This is a security risk for wireless networks.

It is difficult to identify any device in the network with this same Pre-Shared Key.

Using same key in the network needs more key change not to be open malicious threats.

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