Wireless Security Protocols with 40-bit Encryption Key

B.

The correct answer to the question is B. WEP.

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is a wireless security protocol that was developed to provide security for wireless networks. It uses a 40-bit encryption key, which is considered weak by today's standards. The 40-bit key is generated by concatenating a 24-bit initialization vector (IV) and a 64-bit secret key.

WEP was widely used in early wireless networks, but it has since been found to be insecure and easily bypassed by attackers. This is because the IV is transmitted in plaintext, which makes it easy for attackers to capture and analyze network traffic. Additionally, the secret key used by WEP can be cracked using readily available tools.

As a result of these security weaknesses, WEP has largely been replaced by newer and more secure wireless security protocols, such as WPA and WPA2.

TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) is a wireless security protocol that was developed to address the weaknesses of WEP. It uses a 128-bit encryption key and provides more robust security than WEP. However, TKIP has also been found to be vulnerable to attacks and is no longer recommended for use.

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) is a wireless security protocol that was introduced as a replacement for WEP. It uses a stronger encryption key than WEP (either 128-bit or 256-bit), and it also provides stronger authentication and key management mechanisms. However, WPA is also vulnerable to some attacks, and it has largely been replaced by WPA2.

WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access II) is the current standard for wireless security. It uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm and provides stronger security than WEP, TKIP, and WPA. It also supports more robust authentication mechanisms, such as 802.1X/EAP and RADIUS, which make it more difficult for attackers to gain unauthorized access to a network.