Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Cybersecurity Practice Test

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) improved upon which original Wi-Fi security standard?

1. SSL

2. WEP

3. L2TP

4. 802.1x

The correct answer is: WEP

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) was developed to address the significant vulnerabilities found within the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol, which was the original security standard for wireless networks. WEP was intended to provide a similar level of security to wired networks, but it was found to have numerous weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers, leading to unauthorized access to the network. WPA introduced stronger encryption methods and additional security features to overcome these weaknesses. One of the key improvements was the use of the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), which dynamically changes keys as data is transmitted, making it much more difficult for hackers to intercept and decode the information. Additionally, WPA includes mechanisms for user authentication, strengthening the overall security of wireless networks. Understanding this context is essential, as it highlights the evolution of wireless security from WEP to WPA and the importance of improving cybersecurity measures in response to emerging threats.