WEP and WPA, What's the Difference?

You may encounter WEP and WPA once you configure or set up your wireless network at home or at your office. But what is the difference between the two.

There is a big difference between WEP and WPA, but what makes them the same is
they are both security features for your wireless network, avoiding network
intruders to access any device, files and others shared components on your network.
But what makes them different is really a different story.

WEP, Stands for Wireless Equivalent Privacy. While WPA, stands for WiFi Protected Access.
WEP and WPA uses different kinds of securitY keys. These keys are the security passwords to
connect or to access the resources shared over the networks, like internet connection, files,
and printers.


WEP

• a security code used in some WIFI.
• a sequence of hexadecimal digits, consisting of numbers 0-9 and letter A-F

        Samples:     1A648C9FC2 

                              96E767FAC38EK23B0C0346E15

• Security codes must match on each device to connect with each other
• Security codes length depends on the encryption used: 

                 40- / 64-bit WEP: 10 digit key
                 104- / 128-bit WEP: 26 digit key
                 256-bit WEP: 58 digit key

WPA

- a security policy designed to protect wireless
connection users from potential outside threats.
- WPA, WPA2 is designed with much better defenses and it has the ability to handle some wireless
threat issues.

- A WPA key is composed of 8 random numbers and letters.
Sample: 7mv9n1o

Those are brief but important differences of the two security features for wireless networks,
its up to you what protection among WEP and WPA you are going to implement over you network.