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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gokhankosem

Gokhan Kosem is a Network Engineer, Instructor and the Founder of IPCisco.com with 15+ years of experience in Cisco, Nokia, Huawei, Juniper, Linux, Service Provider Networks, Routing and Switching technologies.

He has worked on the backbone networks of major service providers and network vendors including Nortel, Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia) and has extensive hands-on experience with Cisco, Huawei, Juniper and Nokia networking technologies.

He has trained thousands of networking students worldwide through IPCisco.com, Udemy, books, labs, quizzes, and educational content across multiple social media platforms.

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