Wireless Protected Access
When WEP was cracked, we needed a quick fix to protect networks. This came in the form of Wireless Protected Access (WPA) and was essentially a firmware update the network devices. It still used the RC4 encryption cipher but also introduced the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). TKIP uses a genuine 128-bit key and a 48-bit IV and throws into the encryption mix the source and destination MAC addresses. One of the issues with WEP is the repetition of the IV, and TKIP includes a mechanism to avoid this.
WPA is available in two formats, WPA-Personal (or WPA-PSK) and WPA-Enterprise. In a home or small business environment, you will likely use WPA-Personal. You share the key with everyone who needs to know it, and ...
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