SSID service set identifier, a 32-character unique identifier attached to the header of packets sent over a WLAN that acts as a password when a mobile device tries to connect to the BSS.
IV provides more randomness to the encryption process, to avoid pattern recognition in the ciphertext
The initialization vector in WEP is a 24-bit field, which is sent in the cleartext part of a message. Such a small space of initialization vectors guarantees the reuse of the same key stream. A busy access point, which constantly sends 1500 byte packets at 11Mbps, will exhaust the space of IVs after 1500*8/(11*10^6)*2^24 = ~18000 seconds, or 5 hours. Malicious user can generate automated collisions and collect enough packets to crack a moderately used network well within 30 minutes.
802.1x is used with the EAP protocol which provides a framework to extend authentication possibilities from PAP, CHAP to OTP, certificates, biometrics, kerberos Eg: EAP -
The PSK provides an easily implemented alternative for the PMK as compared to using 802.1X to generate a PMK. A 256bit PSK is used directly as the PMK. When the PSK is a passphrase, the PMK is derived from the passphrase as follows: PMK = PBKDF2(passphrase, ssid, ssidLength, 4096, 256) Where the PBKDF2 method is from PKCS #5 v2.0: Password-based Cryptography Standard. This means that the concatenated string of the passphrase, SSID, and the SSIDlength is hashed 4096 times to generate a value of 256 bits. The lengths of the passphrase and the SSID have little impact on the speed of this operation. The PTK is a keyed-HMAC function using the PMK on the two MAC addresses and the two nonces from the first two packets of the 4-Way Handshake. This is why the whole keying hierarchy falls into the hands of anyone possessing the PSK, as all the other information is knowable.
This program simply tries a bunch of different options from a dictionary file to see if one ends up matching what is defined as the Pre-Shared Key