The WPA3 protocol has been announced, in the name of safety
WPA3 is the name chosen by the WiFi Alliance to replace WPA2, after the KRACK vulnerability revealed its weakness. Many safety precautions so far made known, but also some measure of usability.
The WiFi Alliance announced the first details of the WPA3 protocol, designed to protect WiFi connections in the future. At the moment, there is not yet an official draft, which will probably arrive during the year, but the first information about it has already emerged. Although the details are still scarce on the subject, four of the features that will be present in the new WPA3 protocol emerged – made necessary after the disclosure of KRACK, the vulnerability of WPA2.
The first new feature is the protection against brute force attacks: authentication will be blocked after a certain number of failed attempts, so that it is not possible to carry out attacks that require a large number of attempts to succeed.
The second is the individualized data encryption: each client connected to the WiFi network will have a different encryption key to communicate with the router or access point. In this way, it will not be possible to detect packets of other machines from the network.
A further feature is the use of a 192-bit cryptographic standard (not specified) from the Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite also used by the US government and defense. This should ensure greater resistance to decryption attempts.
The last element, particularly significant for the IoT, is the possibility of using a device already configured to configure a second one. In this way, it would be possible, in theory, to transfer the security settings to access the network without having to manually enter the data.
One of the problems of the new protocol concerns the fact that the devices could already be compatible now with the new specifications, but require certification in order to operate with the new standard. In fact, many routers and other network devices may need to be replaced in order to take advantage of the new WPA3 protocol.
