KRACK Attack: How To Protect Your Device From This Deadly Wi-Fi Hack

If at the moment, you still believe that all it takes to keep your wireless network safe is just to password-protect it, then you need to have a second thought. You might have heard about KRACK Attack, but if you have not, I will be introducing you to this deadly Wi-Fi hack in this post. For a start, KRACK is a new Wi-Fi hack which be used to read data transmitted between a device and its wireless network. The fearful part is that it can carry out its function even if your network is password-protected and encrypted. Read on to learn more about it.

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What is KRACK?

KRACK is an acronym which stands for Key Reinstallation Attack. It is simply a way to breach the security of a wireless network protected with the Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) encryption protocol.

You can watch the video below to have a better understanding of what I am talking about. .

KRACK was discovered by security researcher Mathy Vanhoef in Belgium KU Leuven University. The Wi-Fi hack exploits a new found vulnerability in WPA2 encryption. According to Vanhoef, he made it know that KRACK attack works against all modern protected Wi-Fi networks. The weakness are found in the Wi-Fi standard itself, and not in individual products or implementations. Therefore any correct implementation of WPA2 is likely affected.

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Why is KRACK Attack Deadly For Your Device?

KRACK is deadly for your device as it can be used by hackers to intercept data transmitted from your wireless devices such as mobile phones, computers, tablets, routers, and in worst cases, can even inject and manipulate data on a compromised Wi-Fi network. It hijacks devices to inject ransomeware or other malware onto systems.

Practically, this means that attackers can decrypt a lot of Wi-Fi traffic, with varying levels of difficulty which depends on your precise network setup. According to Vanhoef, Android and Linux devices have the highest susceptibility to KRACK attack.

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How To Protect Your Devices From KRACK attack

Since the threat is real and deadly, then there is a need for you to also keep your devices safe and secure from this hack. The first thing you should do to protect your devices from KRACK attack is to update the, with the latest patches. Most organisations are working towards solving this issue and plan to multiple patches in the nearest future.

Another key way of protecting your device from KRACK attack is by using a VPN.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) creates a tunnel that encrypts your personal information and browsing activity. If you are using a reputable VPN, then be rest assured that you are safe from KRACK attack. Note, you should ensure once again that you are using a reputable VPN. In my next article, I will be giving you some tips to choose the best VPN for your internet needs.

A VPN also safeguards your personal information from being hacked when you are using public Wi-Fi hotspots. VPN can protect you from being tracked by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), your IT department at work, and even government surveillance.

Having done all these, there is no need to worry about being hacked, as researchers like Vanhoef continuously search for and disclose flaws of KRACK attack, and try to stay ahead of hackers. This means that the code required to complete the hack have not been made public yet.

Also note that hackers need to be within a range of a given Wi-Fi network inorder to execute KRACK attack. Simply put, it cannot be executed over the internet.