WiFi WPA2 Krack Attack, Flaw: Microsoft, Apple Addresses Security Flaw

By Shiena Bernardino, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, October 17, 2017

A major flaw had been discovered regarding the vulnerabilities in Wi-Fi connection based on a new research, but major tech companies found a way to defeat it.

Ars Technica discussed a new research published by Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) researchers Mathy Vanhoef and Frank Piessens from Belgium where they discovered that there is a serious Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2) protocol flaw that could allow an attacker to intercept the passwords, emails, or any encrypted data within a specific range.

The researchers called the said weakness as Key Reinstallation Attacks, also known as KRACKs. This can reportedly be used to gather sensitive information like credit card numbers and the like by attacking the WPA2 security protocol that is known for being the most used method of securing Wi-Fi connections with the help of encryption keys.

"Any correct implementation of WPA2 is likely affected. To prevent the attack, users must update affected products as soon as security updates become available," Vanhoef stated on the website that explained the flaw. "If your device supports Wi-Fi, it is most likely affected."

Since the researcher claimed that most Wi-Fi supporting devices could be affected by the KRACK attacks, different tech giants reportedly came up with their own solutions to prevent their products from such occurrences.

A Microsoft spokesperson reportedly released a statement through The Verge to reveal that they already released a new security update to deal with the issue.

"Customers who apply the update, or have automatic updates enabled, will be protected. We continue to encourage customers to turn on automatic updates to help ensure they are protected," the company rep stated.

On the other hand, Engadget also revealed that Apple Inc. also came up with a fix to prevent the possible KRACK attacks in the latest beta versions of their operating systems, including macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS. The final versions of these security updates are expected to come out sometime this October.