A parks department guest SSID uses only a captive portal for Acceptable Use acceptance. Auditors ask how RF frames are encrypted for casual visitors. What should the architect explain?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
A splash page is a waiver at the gate, not a Faraday cage on the airwaves. Until you add OWE or a real WLAN cipher suite, open guest frames can still be sniffed. Portal acceptance and RF encryption are different controls.
Full Explanation
Captive portals enforce access terms or redirect clients but do not by themselves provide 802.11 data confidentiality. Open SSIDs without OWE or an authenticated cipher suite leave frames exposed to passive eavesdropping. SSID hiding and MAC filtering are not substitutes for encryption. OWE specifically targets opportunistic encryption for open/public WLAN designs.