Unlike an Ethernet network, which connects its users through cables, a wireless network sends data through the air on radio waves. This makes the information traveling through the network more vulnerable, because anyone with a wireless network card could conceivably tap into those radio waves, log on to an unprotected network and intercept personal data. WEP was designed not as the ultimate security tool but to make information on the wireless network as safe as it would be on a wired network. (Without firewalls and other security features, even wired networks are vulnerable, and wireless users should take similar precautions by installing firewall and security software.) Full Story