WiFi Security Exposure

danemayer · Oct 16, 2017

Hi all,

There's been a lot of news coverage about the WPA2 security problem. Anyone using a router at home or in their RV is probably affected, because most default to WPA2 security protocol (the other protocols available to individuals are much weaker). It won't be long before downloads are available for anyone so inclined to steal your sensitive information.

Here's a link to one source of information about the exposure.

I received an email from Peplink this morning that they are working on a firmware update to fix the problem on some of their routers. And I've opened a ticket at Edimax to get a fix for the BR6478AC V2 router that I use in the RV.

You should contact the support organization for the router(s) you use to request a fix.

ram22 · Oct 16, 2017

Ok, great info. Thanks.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

RDsStudio59 · Oct 16, 2017

Thanks for sharing this Dan. I will definitely be looking into this.

Safe Travels,

Roger

donr827 · Oct 17, 2017

I have used Norton for a long time. They have a product called WiFi Privacy that I use that makes you safer by turning your system into a VPN network.
Don

Bones · Oct 17, 2017

Our home router is about 6 years old now.. Maybe this will be the last straw the the DW will let me upgrade to a new one but man are these new ones expensive.

NWILSON · Oct 17, 2017

Here's some additional information WIFI WPA2 Patches

farside291 · Oct 17, 2017

Why not use an external VPN like Private Internet Access or IPvanish. There are many others. Would this not work to prevent someone from stealing your info?

wdk450 · Oct 17, 2017

I use my Verizon MiFi5510L hotspot exclusively for my Windows 10 laptop. Per the info referenced in post #6 of this thread: "In general, Windows and newer versions of iOS are unaffected, but the bug can have a serious impact on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and newer." Also: "The vulnerability does not mean the world of WPA2 has come crumbling down, but it is up to vendors to mitigate the issues this may cause."

I have yet to see a patch on the Verizon support pages.

danemayer · Oct 17, 2017

farside291 said:
Why not use an external VPN like Private Internet Access or IPvanish. There are many others. Would this not work to prevent someone from stealing your info?

I think there has to be matching VPN software at the other end. Apart from Corporate communications, or private arrangements between 2 parties, I'm not sure VPN is available, even if it did protect from a WPA2 problem.

- - - Updated - - -

wdk450 said:
I use my Verizon MiFi5510L hotspot exclusively for my Windows 10 laptop. Per the info referenced in post #6 of this thread: "In general, Windows and newer versions of iOS are unaffected, but the bug can have a serious impact on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and newer." Also: "The vulnerability does not mean the world of WPA2 has come crumbling down, but it is up to vendors to mitigate the issues this may cause."

I have yet to see a patch on the Verizon support pages.

CERT is the authority on this and they haven't let Windows 10 off the hook.

CDN · Oct 17, 2017

Aside from normal security proceedures mentioned you can go into your router and only allow the unique MAC address of your devices access to your hotspot or router. Turn off SSID and this makes it harder to find and hack.

kf5qby · Oct 24, 2017

CDN said:
Aside from normal security procedures mentioned you can go into your router and only allow the unique MAC address of your devices access to your hotspot or router. Turn off SSID and this makes it harder to find and hack.

Turning off SSID broadcast will only slow an attacker down by a couple of seconds. It is not an effective method of security.

For this particular threat, using MAC filtering on your router will not help either. The attacker does not get into your network in the traditional sense. They are able to trick the access point and the client into providing information that can be used to decrypt the traffic. So while they do not have access to the network, they can capture all the data being sent and received over the wireless link and potentially pull sensitive information from that.

That being said, the attacker has to be physically close to your network in order to execute the attack and capture the packets. Basically with-in the WiFi range. This is not something they can exploit from half a world away. Unless someone is after a specific target, this is not really something the average person needs to worry about. The odds are really low of a person driving around just seeing what they can find. Thanks to the people who found the exploit, the manufacturers have been aware of it for several weeks before it was made public and have been working on firmware updates to correct the problem.

You still need to worry about your phones/tablets/notebooks until patches are released to fix them as well as places with WiFi that may or may not be patched.

wdk450 · Oct 24, 2017

kf5qby said:
Turning off SSID broadcast will only slow an attacker down by a couple of seconds. It is not an effective method of security.

For this particular threat, using MAC filtering on your router will not help either. The attacker does not get into your network in the traditional sense. They are able to trick the access point and the client into providing information that can be used to decrypt the traffic. So while they do not have access to the network, they can capture all the data being sent and received over the wireless link and potentially pull sensitive information from that.

That being said, the attacker has to be physically close to your network in order to execute the attack and capture the packets. Basically with-in the WiFi range. This is not something they can exploit from half a world away. Unless someone is after a specific target, this is not really something the average person needs to worry about. The odds are really low of a person driving around just seeing what they can find. Thanks to the people who found the exploit, the manufacturers have been aware of it for several weeks before it was made public and have been working on firmware updates to correct the problem.

You still need to worry about your phones/tablets/notebooks until patches are released to fix them as well as places with WiFi that may or may not be patched.

John:
Thanks for the good info. Until this security flaw gets fixed I will be SURE to always disconnect my laptop from the WiFi hotspot at the end of a session, and also TURN OFF the WiFi hotspot until I need it again.

WiFi Security Exposure

danemayer

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ram22

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RDsStudio59

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donr827

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Bones

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NWILSON

Kentucky Chapter Leaders - retired

farside291

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wdk450

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danemayer

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CDN

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kf5qby

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wdk450

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