ITPEC IP October 2024 Question 42
A problem has been pointed out that the WEP encryption for wireless LANs can be broken easily. Which of the following is an encryption method that does not have the same weakness and is cryptographically stronger?
Explanation
WPA2 — the Wi-Fi security standard that replaced WEP with much stronger encryption.
WEP uses the RC4 stream cipher with a short 24-bit initialization vector and a static shared key; the IVs repeat quickly, so an attacker who captures enough traffic can recover the key. WPA2 (IEEE 802.11i) encrypts wireless frames with AES in CCMP mode and derives fresh keys per session, so it does not share this weakness.
Answer (d)
Why not others:
- •(a) ESSID — the network name that identifies a wireless LAN; it encrypts nothing
- •(b) S/MIME — encrypts and signs e-mail messages, not the traffic on the wireless link
- •(c) SSL — protects a single application connection such as HTTPS; it is not a wireless LAN encryption method that replaces WEP
Key rule: Wireless LAN encryption evolved WEP → WPA → WPA2 → WPA3; an ESSID only names the network and gives no protection.
Security · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from an official ITPEC past paper. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with ITPEC. See the official IP past-paper collection or Report an issue.