Networking / Beginners

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EAP-AKA

The EAP-Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA) protocol is used in third-generation (3G) mobile networks. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and CDMA2000 are regarded as 3G mobile technology standards.

EAP-AKA can be used for authentication purposes along with 3G identity modules and network infrastructures.

EAP-AKA was developed by 3GPP. The IETF document RFC 4187 describes EAP-AKA. In general, EAP-AKA provides more advanced security mechanism compared to EAP-SIM.

Note It is possible to use EAS-SIM or EAS-AKA to authenticate to noncellular networks such as wireless local area networks (WLANs).
All that is needed is to configure the authenticator (WAP) to send authentication requests to backend authentication servers or the EAP server of a cellular network provider.
For example, the owner (the supplicant) of a GSM phone could use her credentials, which are stored on her SIM card, to hop onto a foreign WLAN. As long as the WLAN is preconfigured for this, the cellular network provider will bill the user on behalf of the WLAN operator for the use of the high-speed WLAN network. The user gets the benefits of using the faster WLAN resources for her data transfers (or even voice over IP calls) instead of using the more expensive provider cellular network. The role of the cellular service provider in this case is relegated to mere authentication and accounting functions.