Anyone who has already set up a router probably knows Wireless Protected Access or WPA encryption. Well, now the stage is ready for WPA3, a new Wi-Fi security protocol that brings more security to network devices.
The Wi-Fi Alliance officially announced the WPA3 on Monday, January 08, during the CES 2018 technology event in Las Vegas.
Standard improvements will be released slowly this year for new handsets. The association has also made several improvements to the current WPA2 specification (existing since 2004) to make it more secure while WPA3-compliant handsets hit the market.
The major enhancements of the new version of WPA include individualized data encryption so that hackers eyeing public Wi-Fi networks find it more difficult to spy on their wireless communications.
More importantly, WPA3 also reinforces the interaction with the network when a password is entered, telling the hotspot or router that someone is trying to figure out their password and enabling limits to be placed on the number of attempts.
Without these WPA3-enabled protections, intruders could simply test common passwords, such as “123456”, until the hotpost or router frees access.
With WPA3, the router can be configured to restrict access or even notify you that a Hacker (or smart neighbor) is trying to access your network.
According to Wi-Fi Alliance, WPA3 also has a 192-bit security suite, in line with the Committee on National Security’s Commercial National Security Algorithm (CNSA) packet to help protect government networks and other verified networks.
The Wi-Fi Alliance also formalized some good practices to protect WPA2. Now, Wi-Fi companies will have to undergo testing to ensure their products behave responsibly when using security protocols, and standardize on 128-bit encryption when making connections.