Monday in CE: Massive WiFi Security Flaw Leaves Devices Vulnerable to Hack

According to recently published research, it’s been discovered that the WPA2 protocol that is used to secure modern protected WiFi networks has a massive series of flaws that leaves nearly every wireless device—routers, PCs, smartphones, and more—susceptible to hacking. Identified as the “Key Reinstallation Attackes,” or Krack Attacks, the security flaws were found to be in the actual WiFi standard, not individual products.

Without getting too into the weeds on the technology behind the flaws, what they allow the hacker to do essentially is make a carbon copy of the user’s WiFi network and use that duplicated network as a “middle man” between the device and the network. By rerouting a device through the dummy network the hacker is able to expose sensitive information that otherwise would’ve been encrypted.

This means things like credit card numbers, passwords, photos, and more can all be intercepted through this Krack Attack.