Cisco Wireless LAN Security

WEP Privacy Mechanics

Let’s look at WEP mechanics in more detail. This section looks at the various aspects of WEP, including the encryption exchanges and mechanics, RC4, how an initialization vector (IV) is generated and handled, and finally, how keys are generated and distributed.

WEP mechanisms (the encapsulation of data frames to attempt to provide message confidentiality and message integrity) are aimed at achieving wired characteristics on the wireless connection.

Note

The main difference between the wired world and the wireless world—besides the lack of wires—is the signals being transmitted in the air. All the assumptions made in the wired world (resilience against casual eavesdropping, the signals being confined to a wire, and the ability ...