WEP vs. WPA vs. WPA2 Comparison – How Do Wifi Wireless Get Hacked

WEP vs. WPA vs. WPA2 Comparison – How Do Wifi Wireless Get Hacked

With the right software such as Air Crack or Backtrack, one can easily break any WEP encryption keys. What AirCrack does is it gathers all the data transmit between your router and your devices, compile it and then compute all the possible combination. With today’s processing power and the weakness in WEP, it takes less than 10 minutes to reveal your WEP security key on a busy network.

WPA has its own weakness to, but it is harder to crack. WPA2 is highly recommended for SME or enterprise; remember than anything man made can be un-made. WPA2 is crackable too, but it will require too much effort and time. It is easier for the hacker to look for someone using WEP instead of wasting time breaking the WPA2 security code. Below is a simple side by side comparison between WEP, WPA and WPA2.

	WEP	WPA	WPA2
Name	Wired Equivalent Privacy	Wifi Protected Access	Wifi Protected Access 2
Combo	24 bit initialization keys 16.7 million combination	48 bit initialization keys 500 trillion combinations	48 bit initialization keys 500 trillion combinations Advanced Encryption Standard
Encryption	64 bits 128 bits	64 bits 128 bits	64 bits 128 bits
Keys	Static encryption keys	Unique encryption key	Unique encryption key
Speed	Not much processing power	Somewhat processing power	Requires greater processing power
Master Key	Master keys are used directly	Master keys are never directly used	Master keys are never directly used

Deauthorizing Wireless Clients with Aircrack-ng, the four-way-handshake and WEP vs WPA cracking

How Do Wi-fi Network Get Hacked