San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Upgrade to Wi-Fi will boost security
Starting later this year, the way you connect devices to Wi-Fi will be more secure, both at home and on the go. But there’s a catch: You’ll likely have to buy new hardware.
This month,the Austinbased Wi-Fi Alliance, which oversees the standards used for Wi-Fi, began certifying devices to work with a new security protocol called WPA3. It replaces WPA2, which has been around for 14 years. Last year a flaw was discovered that makes it less secure.
WPA3 fixes a lot of issues with Wi-Fi connections, including those made to public hot spots — from coffee shops to airports — considered very insecure. WPA3’s approach also makes it difficult to mount a common type of hack. Even if malicious types are able to capture data, it will be hard to view it.
“WPA3 brings security all the time, everywhere,” said Ashel Sag, associate analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, a technology consultancy. “It has been a long time coming.”
Today, WPA2 is the primary protocol used to make a secure, encrypted Wi-Fi connection. Everything from routers to smartphones to PCs to so-called internet of things devices use WPA2 to establish a secure connection.
In 2017, researchers discovered a flaw that would allow someone to capture part of the handshake used to initiate a secure WPA2 connection over Wi-Fi. The flaw has been patched, but not all devices have it, particularly older ones that manufacturers have ceased updating.
Sag and other tech analysts don’t expect WPA3 to begin seeing broad usage until late 2019, and it won’t be widespread until 2020.
WPA3 brings four primary security features to Wi-Fi:
Hard-to-crack passwords. WPA3 will make it tough for even weak passwords to be cracked. With WPA2, it’s possible to run what’s called a “brute force attack” against a Wi-Fi network, using a computer to rapidly guess dictionary words until it finds one that works. But with WPA3, an evildoer can’t run a script that just spews words. Each guess must be done one at a time, making it much more difficult to guess even the laziest passwords.
Safer data. If a hacker does get access to data via your WiFi connection, it’s harder to take it elsewhere and try to decrypt it, thanks to a process called “forward secrecy.” Attackers won’t be able to decrypt old data from your network even if they discover the password. Easier internet of things connections. WPA3 makes it much easier to connect devices that don’t have screens to Wi-Fi. You’ll be able to scan a QR code with your smartphone to quickly add a device to your network via WPA3.
More secure public Wi-Fi. A feature called Wi-Fi Enhanced Open allows you to make a secure WPA3 connection to a public hot spot even if no password is required to connect. Your traffic will be encrypted regardless.