WEP, WPA, WPA2

What exactly is the difference between WEP, WPA, WPA2? I use WEP, should I consider WPA?

Hi there!

WEP:Wired Equivalent Privacy, which is RC4. RC4 is the main culprit in network security issues.

WPA:WiFi Protected Access, which is RC4 extended to Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP).

WPA2: is similar to WPA, except it add extra encryption called AES-CCMP.

I suggest using WPA2. Use this because it has more than three protection levels, making it nearly impossible for computer guru hackers to break the encryption. AES is so good that it blocks statistical analysis of the cipher text.

I hoped I helped, although there are a lot of technical terms. If anything of the above confuses you in any way, please reply back and ask for help!

Well, it is quite technical I agree. I use WEP and all I need to connect to the network is a WEP key. If I would be using WAP or WAP2 you said there are 3 layers of security... so what would I need to use to connect to a wifi router with WAP2 or WAP? 3 layers mean 3 wep keys? or 3 passwords?

WPA & WPA2 uses same key, just one.

Both WPAs uses more than one layer of encryption. This is to make sure that no one can break your key.

OK, so if I just use 1 key, same as with WEP what is the drawback of WAP? Is it slower???

OK, so if I just use 1 key, same as with WEP what is the drawback of WAP? Is it slower???

WEP is actually faster, due to lower utilization of the router's processor. Still, WEP is insecure and the target of many script kiddies. Use WPA/WPA2 with a 63 character key.

OK, let us go step by step. My router gives me this options:

A. NETWORK ID
Ok it is just the name, the SSID. It has no implications for safety at all.

B. CHANEL
Ok I selected a number between 1 and 13. I have a tool to monitor WiFi in my area, and I know my neighbors have different channels, but I do not know why or what is that good for.

C. SECURITY
I can choose between WEP, 802.1X, WPA, WPA2, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK. Wow that is a lot of options. We spoke about WPA and WPA2, but what is 802.1X and PSK?

D. AUTHENTICATION TYPE
This gives me 3 options: OPEN; SHARED KEY; BOTH. What is this good for? I selected OPEN.

E. WEP ENCRYPTION
2 options here: 64 bit, 128 bit. No idea what is the difference, but I selected 64 bit.

F. KEY MODE
HEX or ASCII. I selected HEX, but what if I select ASCII?

G. WEP KEY
I have WEP KEY 1, 2, 3, 4. I only have WEP KEY 1 filled in. WEP KEY 2, 3, 4 is blank. No idea why I would need the second, third, or forth WEP KEY? If the WEP key automatically generated, or do I need to type it in? If I select WAP, will this change its name to WAP key?

So I have only very limited knowledge of my router. That is why I appreciate our discussion on this topic. I am learning a lot here.

For the channel, my friend, go ahead and choose between 1, 6, and 11. Either one of those three is the best control for the signal your router will emit.

Choose whatever SSID that you feel will be best for the other computers on the network to connect to, such as DLINK200, etc.

Choose WEP. The rest of the network encryption types or not hard to configure, but just, tedious. Thank you DaffyKantReed, that is a good point and that is true.

To make the WEP key, I recommend a safe generator to do this for you. They can basically encrypt the key for you and you can copy the key and paste it in to your key box.

Please try these out, then reply back and I can continually help you!

I do not have a specific problem. I am just trying to understand my router. What are those 802.1X stuff and so on...

HMOS Definition of 802.11 implementation

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE 802.11 are a set of standards of controlling or implementing wireless communications.
• The most popular type are usually 802.11b and 802.11g. Now that 802.11n-draft is intact, it is becoming very popular.
• The eight types are 802.11a,b,d,e,g,h,i,j that are currently implemented then includes 802.11n-draft.
• I also do know that the modern recommended encryption for the home computer is WPA2.