Maximum Wireless Security

Technical Example

The reason for this flaw is that WEP produces the ciphertext by merging only two variables together using XOR. Comparable Equation 1 depicts the final function of the RC4 algorithm, which encrypts the data.

Comparable Equation 1

Ciphertext = Plaintext XOR Keystream 

As you can see, the only value masking the plaintext is the keystream. If we reverse this process, we see that the only value masking the keystream is the plaintext, as depicted by Comparable Equation 2.

Comparable Equation 2

Keystream = Ciphertext XOR Plaintext 

To further illustrate this, let’s set up an example using a known plaintext value of A.

Creating the Ciphertext (Using Comparable Equation 1)

If we assume the following:

 Plaintext = A (ASCII)→065 ...