Question about WEP key for wireless

Asked By Marcus Aureli 0 points N/A Posted on - 08/04/2011

My router is Linksys and I want to know which is better to use – 64-bit wep or 128-bit wep.

I really don't get the difference, if they are compromised its still the same problem.

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Answered By Jennifer Andrews 0 points N/A #97658

Question about WEP key for wireless

Hi Marcus Aureli:

My router is Linksys too.  Now to fully understand the difference between 64-bit WEP and 128-bit WEP, let's get into details:

64-bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) will help you, create a key with 10 hexadecimal digits.

128-bit WEP will provide you a key with 26 hexadecimal digits.

The WEP will help you create a password translated to hex digits (base of 16).  The symbols 0 to 9 equates from zero to nine and letters A-B-C-D-E-F or simply a to f, equates from ten to fifteen. 

So once you generate your passphrase, it will calculate a key that is equivalent to the passphrase in hexadecimal code. 

Now to wrap things up, 64-bit WEP means that you can set 10 HEX digits while 128 bit WEP means that you can set 26 HEX digits.

For me, it is safer to use the 128 bit WEP, because it uses a higher level of encryption compared to the 64 bit WEP.

-Jennifer

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• Posted on - 08/05/2011
• Question Category: Network Security