Wi-Fi KRACK is the new exploit in the WPA security standard. Almost all of the Wi-Fi network could be hacked now or it would have been already, the US government warns. The WiFi security breach is affecting all Wi-Fi network with WPA 2 standard which is being used in almost every home or even businesses network, including the one your device is connected at the moment.
Once the network is exposed, the hackers will be to control the network and inject malicious code into your device and do countless malicious activities. A team of researchers led by Mathy Vanhoef will be revealing the details of the exploit later today. The US government has warned everyone and also revealed the details about the breach, they also note that it will affect the entire world and not any specific country.
What exactly is the Wi-Fi KRACK exploit?
If you are using Wi-Fi with WPA 2 standard, the Wi-Fi is probably compromised, the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team warns. Why? Because the breach is is at the protocol level.
“The impact of exploiting these vulnerabilities includes decryption, packet replay, TCP connection hijacking, HTTP content injection, and others,” the team said. While its unclear as to how the attack could be launcher or how the users could avoid it, you should still secure your network and update the drives as soon as it becomes available.
“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,“Â United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued the statement.
Secure your Wi-Fi network from KRACK exploit
As we noted above, it is unclear as to how existing networks will be able to stay safe from it. You can, however, try to follow the below tips to secure your Wi-Fi network from the attackers.
- Change your default username, password and SSID: If you haven’t changed it already, you should do it today. Change the default username, password, SSID. Immediately.
- Turn on the firewall: Make sure that the firewall on both your router and PC is activated.
- Stop broadcasting the Network Name: If you will disable the visibility status of the SSID, it makes even harder for anyone to look for your WiFi. You will need to manually provide your unique SSID to your friends or family members in order to connect the devices to the Wi-Fi.
- Disable DHCP entirely.
- Install the firmware updates: The routers are expected to receive the new updates in the next few hours, make sure you have them installed them as soon as they hit your router.
