A civic plaza guest SSID is advertised as open, yet the capture shows an encryption key exchange after association. What mechanism is the analyst seeing?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Open Wi-Fi used to mean postcard-on-the-table privacy—anyone could read it. OWE still looks like an open join, but it quietly negotiates encryption so plaza guests aren’t sending cleartext over the air. That’s the exchange you’re seeing after association.
Full Explanation
OWE enables encryption for networks that present as open without requiring a PSK. Captures show association followed by an OWE-related key exchange rather than a traditional PSK 4-way-only pattern. Identifying OWE prevents mislabeling encrypted open guest SSIDs as unprotected or as WPA2-PSK.