WPA

1. Short for Wi-Fi Protected Access, WPA is an improved data encryption standard introduced with the 802.11i wireless standard that helps reduce the security vulnerabilities with WEP.

2. Short for Windows Product Activation, WPA is Microsoft's method of authenticating the Microsoft Windows user is the authorized owner of the copy of Microsoft Windows being used on the computer to help prevent piracy. WPA started first being used in all versions of Windows, including consumer versions, with the introduction of Microsoft Windows XP. When a user first installs Microsoft Windows XP they must authenticate with Microsoft by transmitting hardware information about the computer to Microsoft, that information helps to generate a unique key that is assigned to the CD-Key included with Windows. Once created Microsoft is able to distinguish if the CD-Key being used is being used for the same computer it was assigned to.

Also see: 802.11, Authentication, CD-Key, Security definitions, WEP, Wi-fi