What Is WEP? Wired Equivalent Privacy

What Is WEP?
WEP is a standard method for encrypting traffic over a wireless network. WEP was intended to give wireless users security equivalent to being on a wired network. With WEP turned on, each packet to be transmitted is first encrypted and then passed through a shredding machine called RC4.

128-bit encryption is preferred over 64-bit encryption, as it is lot more difficult to break. A major problem associated with WEP is key management. When we enable WEP according to the wireless standard, we need to visit each wireless device that we use and type in the proper WEP key.

If the key is compromised due to some reasons, either you have to change the key or lose all security.

Also, if you have hundreds of users on your network, changing the WEP key creates lots of difficulties. Thus, though WEP has several weaknesses, using WEP is better than not using it.
Read: SSID

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