ITPEC IP October 2018 Question 30

ESSID — the network name that identifies a wireless LAN.

An access point announces its ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier), and a device joins the wireless LAN whose ESSID it is set to use. The SSID originally named the cell of one access point; the ESSID extends it to a network of several access points sharing one name, so a device moving between them stays on the same LAN. It is a string of up to 32 characters, and today SSID and ESSID are used for the same thing.

Answer (b)

Why not others:

• •(a) Bluetooth — a short-range wireless standard linking devices such as keyboards and earphones directly over a few metres; it does not name a network
• •(c) LTE — a mobile phone (4G cellular) communication standard
• •(d) WPA2 — the security standard that authenticates devices and encrypts wireless LAN traffic; it protects the network but does not identify it

Key rule: The ESSID answers "which network?", WPA2 answers "how is it protected?"; knowing or hiding the name gives no security by itself.

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