WEP

Wired Equivalent Privacy was initially designed to provide you similar level of safety as on a wired network but it turns out that it does not. It works by using secret keys, or codes to encrypt data. It is defined in 802.11b standard and tries to give security by encrypting data over radio waves so that it is protected as it is send from one end to other. The network card encrypts data earlier than sending using an RC4 stream cipher given by RSA Security. The receiving station, like an access point executes decryption upon receiving frame. It only encrypts data between 802.11 stations. The Access Point and client should know codes for it to work. It has three settings: Off (no security), 64-bit (weak security) and 128-bit (higher security).

WEP is easy to crack, and using it decreases performance a little. WEP idea of using a passphrase is launched so that you should not enter complex strings for keys by yourself. The passphrase you enter is converted into hex keys. The static nature of shared secret keys is its limitation. 802.11 do not give any functions that support exchange of keys among stations. Thus, system administrators and users use similar keys for longer time. This provides hackers much time to monitor and hack into WEP enabled networks. Most wireless networks that utilize WEP have only WEP key shared between each node on network.

WPA

WPA (WiFi Protected Access) is latest safety standard adopted by WiFi Alliance consortium. WiFi compliance makes sure interoperability between various companies’ wireless tools. WPA is enhanced encryption standard that brings a level of safety beyond anything that WEP can present. It links the gap between WEP and 802.11i (WPA2) networks. It utilizes Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), which is intended to permit WEP to be upgraded from corrective measures that address accessible security problems. WPA is able to get over 500 trillion possible key combinations and re-keying of global encryption keys is necessary. The encryption key is modified after each frame using TKIP. This permits key modifications to happen on a frame by frame basis and to be automatically synchronized between access point and wireless client. TKIP encryption algorithm is stronger than one utilized by WEP. WPA is compatible with many access points and network cards.

WPA2

It is new achievement of WPA and gives stronger data protection and network access control. It gives WiFi users with a higher level of guarantee that only allowed users can access their wireless networks. WPA2 is depend on IEEE 802.11i standard and gives government grade security. 802.11i explains encrypted transmission of data between systems of 802.11a and 802.11b wireless LANs. It defines new encryption key protocols containing Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

There are two editions of WPA2:

WPA2 Personal and WPA2 Enterprise. WPA2 Personal defends illegal network access by using a setup password. WPA2 Enterprise validates network users through a server.