There are many ways to secure wireless networks. Unfortunately, not all of them are very secure. In a series of articles, IT Hub’s Larry Loeb dissects the encryption schemes and other security features used with Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) networks, and provides tips on implementing them as part of your organization’s wireless network defenses.
- Where WEP Went Wrong
WEP’s goal was to provide confidentiality, protect access to the network infrastructure by rejecting all non-WEP packets, and providing data integrity. There’s just one problem with Wired Equivalent Privacy: It isn’t. - WPA: It’s like WEP, but Good
WPA (Wi-Fi protected access) is an update of these security measures that fixes both the ciphers and the authentication methods used in the protocol. WPA increases Wi-Fi WEP security in two ways: it fixes the problem with an easily cracked key, and makes authentication of users possible.
