WPA
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Works Progress Administration |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Government & Politics, Technology & Computing |
WPA has two meanings. It stands for Works Progress Administration (public program) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (networking).
Meanings of WPA at a glance
| # | WPA stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Works Progress Administration | Government & Politics › Public Program |
| 2 | Wi-Fi Protected Access | Technology & Computing › Networking |
1. Works Progress Administration
Government & Politics · Public Program Abbreviations
New Deal agency that employed millions of jobless Americans from 1935 to 1943 to build roads, bridges, schools, parks and airports, and that funded writers, artists, actors and musicians through its arts projects.
Example: The town's stone library was built by a WPA crew in 1938.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt created it by executive order in 1935; it was renamed the Work Projects Administration in 1939. Over its life it employed roughly 8.5 million people. The Federal Writers' Project produced state guidebooks and recorded oral histories of formerly enslaved people. In technology WPA means Wi-Fi Protected Access.
2. Wi-Fi Protected Access
Technology & Computing · Networking Abbreviations
A Wi-Fi security protocol introduced by the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2003 as an urgent replacement for the broken WEP standard. The original WPA used TKIP encryption so it could run on existing hardware after a firmware update, and it has since been superseded by WPA2 and WPA3.
Example: The old barcode scanners only support WPA, so they sit on an isolated network.
WPA was an interim measure based on a draft of the IEEE 802.11i standard. TKIP is now considered insecure and deprecated, so routers offering "WPA/WPA2 mixed mode" should be switched to WPA2 or WPA3 where every device allows it. Each generation comes in a Personal version, using a shared password, and an Enterprise version, using 802.1X and a RADIUS server.
Related abbreviations
More public program abbreviations
- 340B – 340B Drug Pricing Program
- AAA – Agricultural Adjustment Administration
- ACP – Affordable Connectivity Program
- AMI – Area median income
- APS – Adult Protective Services
- APTC – Advance premium tax credit
- CCC – Civilian Conservation Corps
- CDBG – Community Development Block Grant
See all 65 public program abbreviations →