WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a security protocol developed for securing wireless computer networks. It was created to provide a robust security solution to replace the original and less secure Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) standard. WPA and its subsequent versions, WPA2 and WPA3, are used to safeguard Wi-Fi networks.

WPA was introduced in 2003 by the Wi-Fi Alliance to replace WEP. It uses Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) for encryption, which dynamically changes keys to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

WPA supports two modes of authentication - Personal (WPA-PSK) and Enterprise (WPA-EAP). The personal mode uses a Pre-Shared Key (PSK), while the enterprise mode uses an authentication server.