JAPANESE SCIENTISTS CRACK WPA ENCRYPTION SYSTEM

Japanese computer scientists have discovered a way to crack the Wi-Fi Protected Access WPA) encryption system. This new attack makes it possible for hackers to break into wireless router systems and read encrypted traffic sent between computers and WPA encryption systems.

The new attack works only on WPA systems using the old Temporal Key Integrity Protocol algorithm. It cannot break the newer devices using WPA 2 Standard or the stronger Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm. Hackers are yet to discover a means of breaking these algorithms.

The encryption systems used by Wireless routers have never really been foolproof. Actually the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) was cracked within a few years of its introduction in 1997. Newer standards are, nevertheless, more secure and since March 2006, Wi-Fi certified products are required to use the WPA 2 standard. But there are still a decent amount of devices using the older standard and this new development makes them particularly vulnerable.