WEP Protocol Overview
The WEP protocol is intended to implement three main security goals:
• Confidentiality
• Access control
• Data integrity
Achieving these goals should help you, as network administrator, prevent unauthorized individuals from using your wireless infrastructure or learning the content of your wireless traffic. The shared key authentication process requires that the client configure a static WEP key. Figure 147 describes the shared key authentication process, and the steps that follow describe the steps shown in the figure.
Step 1. The client sends an authentication request to the access point requesting shared key authentication.
Step 2. The access point uses the WEP algorithm to generate a random number used in the authentication response containing a challenge text.
Step 3. The client uses its locally configured WEP key to encrypt the challenge text and reply with a subsequent authentication request.
Step 4. If the access point can decrypt the authentication request and retrieve the original challenge text, it responds with an authentication response that grants the client access.
Continue reading here: Countermeasures to WEP Protocol Vulnerabilities
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