A researcher from the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) has discovered a security flaw in the WPA2 key, a protocol used to protect the Wi-Fi networks (wireless networks).
“Every device that uses Wi-Fi is most likely vulnerable,” Mathy Vanhoef observes.
According to the expert’s conclusions, it is possible to attack the wireless networks via what is called the KRACK method — and gather information which is supposed to be safely encrypted.
This flaw can be exploited “to steal sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, passwords, chat messages, emails, pictures and so on,” Mr. Vanhoeuf explains. “Depending on the network configuration, it is also possible to inject and manipulate data (such as ‘ransomware,’ i.e. programs used to ransom).”
WPA2 is the security protocol being used to protect the vast majority of Wi-Fi connections. It superseded WPA and WEP, dismissed a few years ago because of their security weakness. The searcher has thus detected a flaw in WPA2 also, though guaranteed safe. However, this flaw could be resolved through a software update.
