Critical WPA/WPA2 Wireless Security Flaw; Update your wireless router firmware!

[David (Premo)]

Researchers have uncovered a basic flaw in the underlying security protocols (WPA/WPA2) for wireless networks. Basically, anyone in range of your WiFi network, with the proper know how, can crack in and have free access to your network. Simply changing your Wifi password will not fix the problem.

The only way to fix the problem is to update the firmware on your router when/if the manufacturer releases a new version which addresses the flaws. The manufacturer of my router, Synology, just released their fix today. However, this is a new router from a company known to stay on top of things. If you have a very old router, you might end up having to buy something more modern if the manufacturer fails to fix the problem.

Here are some of the technical bulletins:

Multiple security vulnerabilities regarding WPA/WPA2 protocols for wireless connections (CVE-2017-13077, CVE-2017-13078, CVE-2017-13079, CVE-2017-13080, CVE-2017-13081, CVE-2017-13082, CVE-2017-13084, CVE-2017-13086, CVE-2017-13087, CVE-2017-13088).

I would suggest you take this issue very seriously, especially if you live in a hood where the homes are in close proximity and can easily pick up neighbors WiFi signals. It only takes one curious teenager to wreak havoc on your life.

[Clem72]

There is a considerable amount of time between when a researcher identifies an issue and when script kiddies living next door to you in the hood can be expected to be looking at your traffic. And despite the alarmist articles claiming everything is broken and everyone will be subject to man-in-the-middle attacks and have their banking info stolen, SSL still works just fine for end to end secure communications as long as the attacker doesn't have access to your destinations private keys (they already hacked your bank), or has privileged access to a trusted Certificate Authority (they have the backing of a State actor). In neither case would they be wasting their time with you when they could be making millions quickly elsewhere.

[GURPS (Premo)]

yeah I'm not sweating my home network ... some of my routers are 10 yrs old