Windows Vista supports a wide array of different security standards and protocols and their vendor-proprietary extensions for wireless networking. Microsoft's latest operating system still delivers support for Wired Equivalent Privacy, which is considered somewhat obsolete by the current standards of wireless infrastructure security.

WPA, WPA2, PEAP, PEAP-MS-CHAP v2 and EAP-TLS are among the security protocols and initiatives supported by Vista. WPA and WPA2 are involved with wireless networks using dynamic keys and the Temporal Key Management Protocol (TKIP) or Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). PEAP is an open standard while EAP-TLS is used with certificate or smart card authentication.

"PEAP-MS-CHAP v2. With this wireless authentication protocol, clients can use their Active Directory account name and password credentials to authenticate to the wireless network. PEAP-MS-CHAP v2 is natively supported by the Internet Authentication Service (IAS) in Windows Server® 2003 and Network Policy Server (NPS) in Windows Server Code Name "Longhorn," and it is the default protocol for wireless authentication in Windows Vista. Earlier versions of Windows also support PEAP-MS-CHAP v2," stated Microsoft.

Microsoft has introduced support for a wide array of security protocols for wireless networking in Windows Vista in order to enable users to take advantage of the most secure connection methods available independent of the network. "All of these security protocols and initiatives can be centrally configured by using Group Policy in Active Directory domains to provide simplified management," added the Redmond Company.