Port-based authentication is a "network access control" concept in which a particular device is evaluated before being permitted to communicate with other devices located on the network. 802.1X Port-Based Authentication examines how this concept can be applied and the effects of its application to the majority of computer networks in existence today. 802.1X is a standard that extends the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) over a Local Area Network (LAN) through a process called Extensible Authentication Protocol Over LANs (EAPOL).