Right now, there are new FragAttacks security vulnerabilities that are targeting your devices, which use the internet. Security experts said that these new flaws are found in all WiFi gadgets.
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Researchers said that these new flaws are specifically found in home routers and IoT (Internet of Things) devices. These so-called FragAttacks (fragmentation and aggregation attacks) are affecting all WiFi devices, even the older models as far as those manufactured in 1997.
Security researchers said that these include smartphones, smart devices, and more.
They also confirmed that three of these newly discovered flaws are WiFi 802.11 standard design vulnerabilities, which are located in the frame aggregation and frame fragmentation functionalities. This is a serious issue since these three bugs are the ones most affecting the IoT devices and home routers.
“Experiments indicate that every Wi-Fi product is affected by at least one vulnerability and that most products are affected by several vulnerabilities,” said Mathy Vanhoef, one of the security researchers at New York University Abu Dhabi.
How Serious is the New FragAttacks?
According to Bleeping Computer’s report, these new WiFi vulnerabilities can affect all modern security protocols of WiFi. These include the latest WPA3 specification, and the so-called WEP, which is the original security protocol of WiFi.
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“This means that several of the newly discovered design flaws have been part of Wi-Fi since its release in 1997!” added Vanhoef.
Although this is the case, ZDNet reported that hackers and other cybercriminals will still find it hard to exploit these new security vulnerabilities since it is difficult to abuse. Aside from these, the new FragAttacks also require user interaction.
What You Need to Do?
Although this might sound alarming, security experts still provided some safety methods you can try. One of these is ensuring all online services and websites are using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) protocol.
You can do this by installing the HTTPS Everywhere web browser extension. Aside from this, you can also disable fragmentation, pairwise rekeys, and dynamic fragmentation in WiFi 6 devices.
For more news updates about FragAttacks and other new WiFi vulnerabilities, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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Written by: Griffin Davis
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