Wired Equivalent Privacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wired Equivalent Privacy - Essay Example Wired Equivalent Privacy, WEP is one of the options of providing security in such circumstances. WEP is the oldest security protocol specified by IEEE under the IEEE Wireless Fidelity Standard, 802.11b (Arbaugh, Shankar, Wan, & Zhang, 2002). The protocol is designed to give a level of privacy and security in a wireless local area network (WLAN), which is comparable to that available in the wired Local Area Networks. Generally, a wired local area network is protected from intrusion through physical barriers such as limited access to buildings or server rooms. Although these protection mechanisms are effective for physically controlled environment, the case is not the same for WLANs since the radio waves are not necessarily constrained by physical walls surrounding the network. WEP seeks to solve this concern by providing a similar protection as that in the wired networks through encryption of data transmitted in the WLAN. The encryption algorithm in WEP entails the use of security cod e selected at the network configuration phase. This code is usually referred to as WEP key and it uses defined hexadecimal digits such as 99D767BAC38EA23B0C0176D152 and1A648C9FE2. In order to allow for the transfer of information, the digital sequence should match in all the gadgets seeking to connect in a wireless network. Depending on the form of WEP encryption being used, WEP keys can be generated in different lengths. The overall functionality of WEP depends of the philosophy that data encryption shields the susceptible wireless links between access points and ‘client’. Once this protection is in place, other common mechanisms such as, end-to-end encryption, password protection, authentication, and virtual private networks (VPNs) come in handy to bolster privacy. How it Works The functionality of WEP security entails two parts being Authentication and Encryption. Whereas authentication is carried out at the introduction of a device in a network, encryption alters th e nature of data once they are available in the network. Authentication The process of authentication in a wireless network uses WEP to prevent a new gadget or station from joining a network if the WEP key is not known. The two authentication methods used in WEP are the Open System authentication and Shared Key authentication. In the Open System authentication, WLAN clients are not required to give any credentials at the network access point. This scenario would allow any user to authenticate themselves at the access point after which association may be established. In essence, there is no authentication taking place here. For the Shared Key authentication, the predetermined WEP key must be produced to authenticate a user and allow access to a network. This type of authentication comprises of a 4-way request and response mechanism. At the first stage of authentication, the client station, or device sends a request for authentication at the access point. The access point responds by replying a clear-text challenge. At the third stage, the client encrypts the text with the automatically configured WEP key and sends to the access point as a unique authentication request. Lastly, the access point decrypts the requested items and compares it against the clear-text sent previously. Depending on the outcome of the comparison, the access point initiates a negative response by denying access or positive response by granting the access. Encryption In WEP, RC4 stream cipher is used to encode the data in to a form that cannot be understood by third parties through a process called encryption. The data is encrypted at the transition phase between access