Wired equivalent privacy (**WEP**) is a wireless security protocol designed to provide users with the *same level of privacy on wireless network connections as they have on wired network connections*. WEP was developed in 1999 and is the oldest of the wireless security standards. **WEP is largely out of use today**, but security analysts should still understand WEP in case they encounter it. For example, a network router might have used WEP as the default security protocol and the network administrator never changed it. Or, devices on a network might be too old to support newer Wi-Fi security protocols. Nevertheless, a malicious actor could *potentially break the WEP encryption*, so it’s now considered a **high-risk security protocol**.