Hack the Route Start free Open app Wireless and network types
Wi-Fi security: WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA3
How a wireless network keeps strangers off and its frames private, from broken WEP to WPA3.
An open network encrypts nothing: anyone in range reads every frame. WEP encrypted, but its keys can be recovered in minutes. WPA2 (AES) is the long-time standard. With a pre-shared key (WPA2-Personal), everyone shares one password and a captured handshake can be guessed offline. WPA3-Personal replaces that with SAE, which resists offline guessing. Enterprise mode (WPA2/3-Enterprise) gives every user their own login, checked over 802.1X by a RADIUS server, with an EAP method such as PEAP (a password inside a TLS tunnel) or EAP-TLS (a certificate on each device). Wi-Fi encryption only covers the air between the device and the AP; past it, traffic is as private as the wired network and whatever TLS or VPN runs on top.
WPA2-PSK proves both sides know the password with a 4-way handshake (EAPOL frames) that derives fresh session keys; it is this handshake an eavesdropper captures to guess the password offline. WPA3 replaces it with SAE (Simultaneous Authentication of Equals, a commit/confirm exchange) that leaks nothing crackable offline, and requires 802.11w.