802.1X and EAP evaluations in wired and wireless networks

With the rapid advancements in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), ensuring robust information security has become crucial, particularly in network access control for dynamic and mobile networks. This research focuses on implementing and evaluating the Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) model alongside the 802.1X protocol to enhance network security across wired and wireless environments. We assess various Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) methods, leveraging Cisco equipment and the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), to test their effectiveness in maintaining secure and efficient access. A range of authentication approaches, including EAP-MD5, EAP-TTLS, and PEAP, are applied and compared based on their performance in terms of authentication speed, security level, and implementation complexity. Evaluations of packet capture and statistical analysis offer comprehensive insights into how well each technique performs in a range of network configurations. The purpose of these findings is to assist network administrators in choosing the best EAP techniques based on the security needs and network types.