WEP or | A security protocol for wireless local area networks. WEP |
Wired Equivalent | was designed to provide the same level of security as that |
Privacy | of a wired network, which is inherently more secure than a |
| wireless network because wired networks are easily |
| protected against unauthorized access. Wireless networks |
| use radio waves to communicate and can be vulnerable to |
| unauthorized users. |
| WEP provides security by encrypting data over radio waves |
| so that it is protected as it is transmitted. However, it has |
| been found that WEP is not as secure as once believed. |
| Note: If one part of a wireless network has WEP enabled, |
| they all must have it enabled with the same key or they |
| cannot communicate. |
128 Bit / 64 Bit | This is the 64 or 128 bit WEP key that must match other |
WEP Key | Nodes’ encryption keys in order to communicate: 10 hex |
| characters for 64 bit (40 |
| hex characters for 128 bit (104 |
| You must use the same key values for devices to |
| communicate with each other. |
WLAN or Wireless | A LAN that uses |
Local Area Network | communicate between nodes, rather than telephone wires, |
| etc. |
WPA | A network security protocol that uses improved |
Protected Access) | authentication and temporal keys. It was created to |
| address the weaknesses of WEP encryption. |
WPA2 | A network security protocol with stronger encryption than |
(or IEEE 802.11i) | WPA. It was created to address the weaknesses of WEP |
| encryption. |