WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is a security protocol that was designed to provide a wireless computer network with a level of security and privacy comparable to what is usually expected of a wired computer network. WEP seeks to establish security by encrypting data transmitted over the wireless computer network. Data encryption protects the vulnerable wireless link between clients and access points. Once this measure has been taken, other typical wire computer network security mechanisms such as password protection, end-to-end encryption, virtual private networks (VPN's), and authentication can be put in place to ensure privacy. Unfortunately, WEP is a very weak form of security that uses common 60 or 108 bit key shared among all of the devices on the network to encrypt the wireless data. Hackers can access tools freely available on the Internet that can crack a WEP key in as little as 15 minutes. Once the WEP key is cracked, the network traffic instantly turns into clear text – making it easy for the hacker to treat the network like any open network.

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) is a powerful, standards-based, interoperable security technology for wireless computer networks. It provides strong data protection by using 128-bit encryption keys and dynamic session keys to ensure a wireless computer network's privacy and security. Many cryptographers are confident that WPA addresses all the known attacks on WEP. It also adds strong user authentication, which was absent in WEP.