WEP Or WPA Encryption, What Is The Difference?
Few are the spaces that today do not have a Wi-Fi network. Whether they are private homes, offices, hotels, restaurants, gyms, schools, you can find this wireless network in all of them. Undoubtedly, those in that place will enjoy the convenience of an Internet connection, but have you ever wondered what kind of security or WEP or WPA encryption Do the Wi-Fi devices you connect to use?
The Wi-Fi security algorithms have been developed to be more secure and efficient, encrypting network information and encrypting private data using WEP or WPA encryption. Although both wireless security protocols serve the same purpose, they don’t offer the same security level, so it’s vital to check which type your Wi-Fi is using.
What Are WEP And WPA?
WEP: It was the first security standard for Wi-Fi networks, and the acronym refers to Wired Equivalent Privacy. As its literal translation indicates, the objective of its development was to guarantee the same level of security as wired networks. Despite the improvements and updates since 1999, its protection is considered weak and can be cracked in a few minutes.
To solve this came WAP, Wi-Fi Protected Access, correcting its limitations as a temporary security improvement. With it, TKIP was introduced, which autonomously varies the Wi-Fi password every certain period of time, and the pre-shared key system, by which all users access from the same Wi-Fi password set by one of them. But the reality is that its core components still relied on WEP and WAP-enabled devices, making it too vulnerable to intrusion.
After several tests and corrections, the successor of WPA emerged, the WPA2 standard. It is compatible with the previous one, allowing devices that support one of these two systems to use it. Since 2004 it reached the position as the most secure protocol, even declaring the Wi-Fi Alliance that all future Wi-Fi devices should use WPA2. But, as happened with WEP and WPA, with their use, the possibility of attacks has been discovered that, although they take much longer to carry out, they are still a security problem.
The development of WPA3: It has been the most recent and distinguished by its 192-bit encryption algorithms, greater than WPA2. Since 2018, the first devices compatible with it began to be distributed, but routers that only support WPA2 continue to be sold today. Without a doubt, when it is fully implemented, we will enjoy greater security and better encryption on public networks and connection facilities for Wi-Fi devices without screens such as robot vacuum cleaners or smart plugs, among others.
What Kind Of Security Does Your Wi-Fi Have?
The easiest way to check what security standard your Wi-Fi has is by looking at the label located on the bottom of the router, where it usually appears WEP, WPA or WPA2, along with the numbers and letters that make up the key assigned to the router.
Under no circumstances should you have WEP encryption configured, and if your devices are compatible with the specific type of WPA2 security and AES encryption, you can guarantee the highest security until WPA3 is implemented. We advise you to strengthen security with a strong Wi-Fi password with 15 characters or more, which is not obvious or contains personal information, which combines upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.
Why Are Wi-Fi Security Types Important?
Knowing the safety standard that your Wi-Fi has is essential to be aware of the security of your network to ascertain if the information and private data are protected or if the devices are vulnerable to hacker attacks. Logically, the older protocols were not prepared for modern attacks, and it is our responsibility to check if we have an old version that exposes us. Safety should always be the top priority and even more so in the case of enterprise-level networks, which suffer the most from WPA2 vulnerabilities.
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