Protected Management Frames: 802.11w

The 802.11w standard is a security feature that supports protected management frames.

With security breaches and other attacks designed to access sensitive data, it is necessary to protect management frames in a wireless environment. Management frames are normally not encrypted since they contain information about data and therefore must be heard and understood by all clients.

Note: It is difficult to troubleshoot security of encryption-related issues if the management frames are encrypted. Enable 802.11w security on the badge only if there is a client requirement.

The 802.11w security standard is designed to prevent things like denial-of-service, man-in-the-middle, and dictionary attacks.

802.11w management works with roaming. However, 802.11w must not be enabled with OKC.

To enable protected management frames, refer to Enabling 802.11w.