Explanation EAP by itself is only an authentication framework. PEAP (Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol) fully encapsulates EAP and is designed to work within a TLS (Transport Layer Security) tunnel that may be encrypted but is authenticated. The primary motivation behind the creation of PEAP was to help correct the deficiencies discovered within EAP since that protocol assumes that the communications channel is protected. As a result, when EAP messages are able to be discovered in the "clear" they do not provide the protection that was assumed when the protocol was originally authored. PEAP, EAP-TTLS, and EAP-TLS "protect" inner EAP authentication within SSL/TLS sessions.