What is one of the major weaknesses of WEP?

One major weakness of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is the use of static pre-shared keys (PSK). In WEP, a single static key is used for encryption, which does not change frequently. This presents several security vulnerabilities.

Since the same key is shared among all users on a wireless network, if an attacker is able to capture enough packets, they can potentially decipher the key through statistical analysis or using various attack techniques, such as the FMS (Fluhrer, Mantin, and Shamir) attack. Once the key is compromised, the attacker can easily decrypt the traffic on the network, leading to unauthorized access and data breaches.

In contrast, more secure protocols have implemented dynamic key management, which regularly changes encryption keys to increase security. This approach drastically reduces the risk of key compromise as each session can utilize a unique key, making it significantly harder for attackers to exploit the network.