Flaw reported in WiFi router encryption protocol leaves the internet vulnerable

WPA2 encryption protocol, a 13-year-old protocol that protects the WiFi router and connected devices from malware and hacking attacks has been cracked open which means that all of us connected to the internet through a router are vulnerable now.

What does cracking WPA2 mean? It means that any smart hacker with now a way around WPA2 can intercept your traffic, get your password and sniff your browsing activity on the non-https websites. If you are entering credit card information, passwords or any other important information on non-https websites, it can be easily intercepted by a hacker who has cracked your router.

The researchers who identified the issue explained that,

“US-CERT has become aware of several key management vulnerabilities in the 4-way handshake of the Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2) security protocol. The impact of exploiting these vulnerabilities includes decryption, packet replay, TCP connection hijacking, HTTP content injection, and others. Note that as protocol-level issues, most or all correct implementations of the standard will be affected. The CERT/CC and the reporting researcher KU Leuven, will be publicly disclosing these vulnerabilities on 16 October 2017.”

The identified vulnerabilities are expected to be presented in a talk at ACM Conference. For now, we are not sure when the security patch will be shipped and even if it is shipped it will take some time to update all internet access points in the world.

People worried about their security should avoid using non-https websites and wait for an update of their router software.