You are an ethical hacker contracted to conduct a security audit for a company. During the audit, you discover that the company's wireless network is using WEP encryption. You understand the vulnerabilities associated with WEP and plan to recommend a more secure encryption method. Which of the following would you recommend as a Suitable replacement to enhance the security of the company's wireless network?

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a deprecated security protocol with well-documented cryptographic vulnerabilities, including a flawed implementation of the RC4 stream cipher and the use of a short, static initialization vector (IV). These weaknesses allow attackers to recover the secret key and decrypt traffic with relative ease. The recommended and industry-standard replacement is Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) utilizing the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with Counter Mode Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP). WPA2-AES provides robust data confidentiality, integrity, and authentication, effectively mitigating the risks associated with WEP and securing the wireless network against modern threats.

A. MAC address filtering is an access control mechanism, not an encryption protocol, and is easily bypassed by attackers spoofing a permitted MAC address.

C. Open System authentication provides no authentication, allowing any device to connect. This is a significant security downgrade, not an enhancement.

D. SSID broadcast disabling is a weak security-by-obscurity measure that only hides the network name from casual scans; it does not encrypt data.

1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2012). Guidelines for Securing Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) (Special Publication 800-153). Section 3.1

"WLAN Security Protocols

" states

"WEP is a deprecated IEEE 802.11 security protocol... WEP has been found to be vulnerable to several attacks that can be executed with publicly available tools. Therefore

WEP should not be used." Section 4.2.1 recommends using WPA2.

2. Stallings

W. (2017). Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice (7th ed.). Pearson. Chapter 18

"Wireless Network Security

" details the vulnerabilities of WEP and describes WPA2 with AES-CCMP as the robust and recommended security solution for IEEE 802.11 networks. (This is a standard university textbook).

3. He

C.

& Mitchell

J. C. (2004). Security Analysis and Improvements for IEEE 802.11i. Stanford University Technical Report. This report

foundational to the development of WPA2

analyzes the weaknesses of prior protocols like WEP and details the security properties of the CCMP protocol (used with AES in WPA2) as the secure replacement. Available via Stanford's digital repository.