Which of the following is a concern when encrypting wireless data with WEP?

The correct answer is B. WEP implements weak initialization vectors for key transmission. WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is critically flawed because it uses weak, short (24-bit) Initialization Vectors (IVs) that are transmitted in plaintext alongside encrypted packets. Because the IV space is small, IVs are quickly reused, allowing attackers to collect enough…

Threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigations

Question

Options

AWEP displays the plain text entire key when wireless packet captures are reassembled
BWEP implements weak initialization vectors for key transmission
CWEP uses a very weak encryption algorithm
DWEP allows for only four pre-shared keys to be configured

How the community answered

(66 responses)

A
6% (4)
B
91% (60)
C
2% (1)
D
2% (1)

Explanation

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is critically flawed because it uses weak, short (24-bit) Initialization Vectors (IVs) that are transmitted in plaintext alongside encrypted packets. Because the IV space is small, IVs are quickly reused, allowing attackers to collect enough packets with repeated IVs to mathematically recover the RC4 encryption key (as demonstrated by the FMS attack and tools like Aircrack-ng). WEP does not display the plain text key directly (A is false), RC4 itself is not inherently very weak (C is misleading - the flaw is in WEP's implementation), and WEP actually supports multiple keys (D is inaccurate).

Topics

#WEP#wireless security#initialization vectors#encryption weakness

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