Summary

Despite the claims of wireless vendors' marketing departments and opinions of some "security experts," stating that "everyone is using WEP and it still provides a realistic level of security," real-world 802.11 security is next to abysmal. There are many factors contributing to this situation, both technical and administrative. Human factors, primarily the lack of user and even system administrator education, is the highest source of wireless insecurity in our opinion. As such, it is not going to disappear when newer, more secure standards become universally accepted. Thus, many security problems faced by modern wireless networks will persist for years ahead.