Maximum Wireless Security

Key Extraction

So far we have illustrated serious theoretical weaknesses in WEP. However, in practice, the preceding examples are difficult to implement. Although it is possible to extract clear text from the encrypted information through the use of a series of XOR calculations, the amount of information obtained can be limited. A hacker would have to completely saturate a WLAN with known data until every IV combination is known. Then the hacker would have to create a program that could decipher each encrypted packet by XORing it with its associated plaintext value. This is not easily accomplished because of the inclusion of extraneous data with WLAN packets. However, what if a hacker could use the preceding weaknesses in such a way that she ...