what are all these funny words ? it's actually pretty common and most probably ur using one right now. all those mentioned above are commonly used wireless (wifi) security settings no matter in a home, office or corporate environment.
u know when u turn on ur wireless enabled desktop/notebook/netbook, u would want to search for a nearby wireless location so that u can be connected to the internet? and when u click on the wireless spot, it will ask u for a password?
the most basic and widely used wireless security at the moment would be the WEP (wired equivalent privacy) format which consists of an algorithm (whether it's 64bit or 128bit or 256bit HEX key) to secure ur wireless connection preventing unauthorized users from accessing it, which it claims to be until a few years back in 2001, some guyz were able to crack a WEP key using eavesdropping method and some simple programming software from a few hours which later on reduced to just a couple of minutes!
imagine that your wireless security being hacked by someone in the car parked in the alley behind ur house and then accessing ur computer information in juz a few minutes...scary eh?
there are several ways of enhancing ur internet security :-
1) upgrade it to WPA2 (a different method of wifi security but doesn't support old systems)
2) use encrypted tunneling method (such as IPSec to create a secured line between networks)
a higher grade of wireless security algorithm, WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) which supports more characters other than HEXADECIMAL (0-9 and A-F) and also claims to be much difficult to decipher, was also cracked a few months ago using 15minutes, but to-date, a group of students in Kobe University managed to do it in juz 60seconds!
this however, only applies to those WPA protected systems using TKIP addressing and u are still being protected IF ur wireless system is running on the still safe AES encryption or WPA2. so if u find that u are using TKIP system, please change it to AES or WPA2 as soon as possible or one day u might find ur personal information, files, pictures, projects, ideas or even ur recorded video being posted online!
everything is flawed in the cyberworld i could say, it's just the matter of time when a human mind can find the loophole or a backdoor leading to u.
it's always better to be safe than sorry, so change the wifi encryption at home / office before the wifi changes u ...
*u can google/wiki for more information if u dun trust me :)
