Transferring Opportunistic Wireless Encryption to the IEEE 802.11 Working Group Google, LLC
warren@kumari.net
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise
daniel.harkins@hpe.com
IEEE OWE Opportunistic Wireless Encryption RFC8110 RFC 8110 describes Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE), a mode that allows unauthenticated clients to connect to a network using encrypted traffic. This document transfers the ongoing maintenance and further development of the protocol to the IEEE 802.11 Working Group. This document updates RFC 8110 by noting that future work on the protocol described therein will occur in the IEEE 802.11 Working Group.
Status of This Memo This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes. This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents approved by the IESG are candidates for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841. Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at .
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Table of Contents
  • .  Introduction
  • .  Transfer of Maintenance
  • .  Security Considerations
  • .  IANA Considerations
  • .  References
    • .  Normative References
    • .  Informative References
  • Acknowledgments
  • Authors' Addresses
Introduction Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE) is a mode of opportunistic security for IEEE Std 802.11 that provides encryption of the wireless medium without authentication. Since publication, (also known as "") has been widely implemented and deployed. The IEEE 802.11 Working Group has requested the ability to maintain and develop OWE (see ) to ensure that the protocol remains in sync with the IEEE protocols. This document represents concurrence that future work on OWE will now occur in the IEEE 802.11 Working Group.
Transfer of Maintenance This document represents concurrence that future work on OWE will now occur in the IEEE 802.11 Working Group to ensure that the protocol remains in sync with the IEEE protocols. The OWE protocol will be duplicated by the IEEE 802.11 Working Group such that the document alone will be enough to implement, maintain, and modify the protocol within the IEEE under its policies and procedures.
Security Considerations This document simply notes that future work on the protocol described in will now occur in the IEEE. As such, it does not introduce any new security considerations.
IANA Considerations This document has no IANA actions.
References Normative References Opportunistic Wireless Encryption This memo specifies an extension to IEEE Std 802.11 to provide for opportunistic (unauthenticated) encryption to the wireless media. Informative References IEEE 802.11 Working Group IEEE Liaison statement: OWE (RFC8110) now in 802.11 IETF Liaison Statement Opportunistic Security: Some Protection Most of the Time This document defines the concept "Opportunistic Security" in the context of communications protocols. Protocol designs based on Opportunistic Security use encryption even when authentication is not available, and use authentication when possible, thereby removing barriers to the widespread use of encryption on the Internet. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Enhanced Open: Transparent Wi-Fi protections without complexity Wi-Fi Alliance, The Beacon Blog
Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the IEEE 802.11 Working Group for their work, and for taking on the responsibility for future work on the protocol described in RFC 8110. In addition, we would like to thank , the AD that sponsored the original work, as well as , , , , , and . Apologies to anyone we forgot to acknowledge; RFC 8110 was written 7+ years ago and we have had many conversations with many people since then...
Authors' Addresses Google, LLC
warren@kumari.net
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise
daniel.harkins@hpe.com