A new report dashes any remaining illusions that 802.11-based (Wi-Fi) wireless local-area networks are in any way secure. The paper, written by three of the world's foremost cryptographers, describes a devastating attack on the RC4 cipher, on which the WLAN wired-equivalent privacy (WEP) encryption scheme is based.. . .
A new report dashes any remaining illusions that 802.11-based (Wi-Fi) wireless local-area networks are in any way secure. The paper, written by three of the world's foremost cryptographers, describes a devastating attack on the RC4 cipher, on which the WLAN wired-equivalent privacy (WEP) encryption scheme is based.

The passive network attack takes advantage of several weaknesses in the key-scheduling algorithm of RC4 and allows almost anyone with a WLAN-enabled laptop and some readily available "promiscuous" network software to retrieve a network's key - thereby gaining full user access - in less than 15 minutes.

The new attack has implications for a wireless LAN market that is on the cusp of reaching critical mass. According to Frost & Sullivan, the WLAN's market value will approach $2 billion by the end of this year and spring to almost $5 billion by 2005.

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