What Is WEP?

Date First Published: 4th May 2022

Topic: Computer Networking

Subtopic: Network Standards

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 6/10

CONTENTS

Is WEP Still Used?
Versions

Learn more about what WEP is in this article.

Short for Wired Equivalent Privacy, WEP is a security standard that is used for securing and providing privacy for WLANs. It uses a 64-bit key (128-bit key in WEP2) to encrypt data that is transmitted over a WLAN, meaning that intercepted data will be unreadable by other users. Additionally, it offers password protection and authentication. The aim of WEP is to restrict access to wireless network data in the same way that wired LANs protect data. Only users with physical access to the network access point are able to access wired networks. Wi-Fi relies on an encryption protocol, such as WEP to provide protection for transmitted data, since unauthorised users could gain access to WLANs or intercept the data through the radio waves that connect to the network.

Is WEP Still Used?

WEP is an old security standard that was introduced in 1997. In 2004, it was discontinued by the Wi-Fi Alliance due to critical weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It has been superseded by WPA and any systems that still use WEP should be upgraded or replaced. However, WEP is still used by systems that do not support WPA, the newer standard for securing wireless networks.

The vulnerabilities and weaknesses in WEP are:

No TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) support, meaning that the encryption key that systems used was not changed. They are shared and this creates a possibility for attackers to create their own encryption key to match the one that is used by the secure network. In addition, the key is known to both the sender and receiver.
It is more vulnerable to brute-force attacks.
It uses a weaker encryption key than WPA. Instead of a 256-bit encryption key, WEP only supports a 64-bit or 128-bit encryption key.

Versions

WEP2 - This version of WEP uses a stronger encryption key of 128-bits. Kerberos authentication was required due to security issues. However, this version of WEP2 was still insufficient in terms of security and in 2003, it was replaced by WPA.
WEP+ - Also known as WEP Plus, this is a rare variant of WEP that was developed by Agere Systems, an integrated circuit component company. This rare variant of WEP eliminated weak encryption keys. The only systems that used WEP+ were Agere Systems Wi-Fi products.
Dynamic WEP - This version of WEP combines the features of the 802.1x technology and the Extensible Authentication Protocol and modifies WEP keys dynamically.