{"id":9969,"date":"2012-11-28T14:35:29","date_gmt":"2012-11-28T14:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/wi-fi-protected-access-pre-shared-key\/"},"modified":"2023-06-26T11:41:08","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T11:41:08","slug":"wi-fi-protected-access-pre-shared-key","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22921\/wi-fi-protected-access-pre-shared-key-wpa-psk","title":{"rendered":"Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Does Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key or WPA-PSK is a system of encryption used to authenticate users on wireless local area networks. It’s typically utilized by telecom companies for end-user access in home local area networks.<\/p>\n

WPA-PSK may also be called WPA2-PSK or WPA Personal.<\/p>\n

Techopedia Explains Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key<\/span><\/h2>\n

With WPA-PSK protocol, data transmission is encrypted and controlled using an end user\u2019s generated password. With a TKIP protocol, WPA-PSK uses 128-bit encryption. WPA-PSK can be used with the AES standard, which is a common standard in cybersecurity analysis.<\/p>\n

Unlike commercial WPA systems, the WPA-PSK method doesn’t require a central server or various kinds of user-driven inputs.<\/p>\n

WEP and WPA<\/span><\/h2>\n

It’s important to note that WPA-PSK is one of multiple alternatives for this type of wireless LAN authentication and validation.<\/p>\n

Another one is called Wired Equivalent Protection<\/a> (WEP).<\/p>\n

Interestingly, both of these protocols use a pre-shared key, but the encryption on WEP is considered weaker than the encryption on WPA systems. As a result, some telecom services have moved to using WPA instead of WEP protocol for encryption and authentication.<\/p>\n

WPA and the Pre-Shared Key<\/span><\/h2>\n

One of the fundamental aspects of WPA-PSK security is the use of a pre-shared key, typically provided with the wireless router<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The concept of a pre-shared key goes all the way back to primitive non-digital cryptography<\/a> in prior centuries. The idea is that users utilized an initial secure channel to deliver a key, and then subsequently at a future time, sent secondary transmissions where encryption depended on that initial key.<\/p>\n

One can think of some of the simple book ciphers of the early to mid-millennium where recipients used the pre-shared key to decode messages sent encrypted in the printed pages of a book. The key was often a book in which both the sender and receiver could measure equidistant letter sequence markings. The key could be delivered in person.<\/p>\n

After that, the sender could send a set of numbers corresponding to an equidistant sequence matching the letters in the book. Without the underlying book, the pre-shared key, the set of numbers would defy analysis or code-breaking. The code was not a cipher, then, but a reference to the pre-shared key itself.<\/p>\n

In the current context, the pre-shared key is a digital asset that unlocks the encrypted messaging sent over the network. As such, it can be useful in helping to resist brute force attacks<\/a> where hackers are trying to break the encryption after successfully intercepting transmitted data packets. Again, the pre-shared key makes the encrypted data less dependent on hackable ciphers.<\/p>\n

Although a pre-shared key and other aspects of WPA-PSK may be useful in this type of authentication system, the standard for authentication is moving from a simple password system to multi-factor authentication<\/a> (MFA).<\/p>\n

One of the most common methods is to use a smartphone as a secondary device authentication factor. Here, where it may be possible to hack a password through a brute-force attack, the MFA makes it harder to break into a user account, because unless the hacker somehow has the verification key sent to the mobile device, attempts at unauthorized access won\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

The first WPA standard became available in 2003. A subsequent standard, WPA2, was introduced the next year. A new WPA3 standard became available in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Does Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key Mean? Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key or WPA-PSK is a system of encryption used to authenticate users on wireless local area networks. It’s typically utilized by telecom companies for end-user access in home local area networks. WPA-PSK may also be called WPA2-PSK or WPA Personal. Techopedia Explains Wi-Fi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[218,219,220],"class_list":["post-9969","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-cybersecurity","definitioncat-networks","definitioncat-wireless-and-mobile"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is a Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key (WPA-PSK)? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22921\/wi-fi-protected-access-pre-shared-key-wpa-psk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-26T11:41:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22921\/wi-fi-protected-access-pre-shared-key-wpa-psk#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22921\/wi-fi-protected-access-pre-shared-key-wpa-psk\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-28T14:35:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-26T11:41:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22921\/wi-fi-protected-access-pre-shared-key-wpa-psk\"},\"wordCount\":564,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22921\/wi-fi-protected-access-pre-shared-key-wpa-psk#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22921\/wi-fi-protected-access-pre-shared-key-wpa-psk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22921\/wi-fi-protected-access-pre-shared-key-wpa-psk\",\"name\":\"What is a Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key (WPA-PSK)? 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