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Submission + - Wi-Fi security flaw leaves all wireless networking vulnerable (thehill.com)

Greymane writes: A flaw in the Wi-Fi protocol used to connect laptops and smart devices to networks could leave wireless networking vulnerable to eavesdropping. The security issue was discovered by Mathy Vanhoef at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. It was announced Monday morning in advance of being presented at two major conferences, but the United States Computer Emergency Response Team sent out a notice to impacted parties to be ready for the release of the research. Vanhoef has nicknamed his discovery "KRACK" short for "Key Reinstallation Attacks." Since the flaw is in the protocol, it likely affects all hardware and software that properly implement the WPA2 standard used in modern wireless networking. There are a variety of different KRACK attacks, but the main one interrupts a four-step process known as a "four-way handshake" used to create a single-use encryption key to protect communications. A hacker can exploit the third step of that process to steal that encryption key. That key can be used by a hacker to listen in on all the traffic going to and from that device. Krack is particularly dangerous against Android and Linux devices, said Vanhoef in his write up. It is more complicated and less dangerous against other devices, but still a threat, he said. Vanhoef said that devices can be patched against KRACK, making it imperative to update all phones, laptops and other products using Wi-Fi. Vanhoef ended his write up by saying he believes more flaws in Wi-Fi will be discovered. He concluded his report quoting the video game character Master Chief: "'I think we're just getting started,'" he wrote.

Submission + - WPA2 security flaw puts almost every Wi-Fi device at risk of eavesdropping (zdnet.com) 1

An anonymous reader writes: A security protocol at the heart of most modern Wi-Fi devices, including computers, phones, and routers, has been broken, putting almost every wireless-enabled device at risk of attack.

The bug, known as "KRACK" for Key Reinstallation Attack, exposes a fundamental flaw in WPA2, a common protocol used in securing most modern wireless networks. Mathy Vanhoef, a computer security academic, who found the flaw, said the weakness lies in the protocol's four-way handshake, which securely allows new devices with a pre-shared password to join the network.

That weakness can, at its worst, allow an attacker to decrypt network traffic from a WPA2-enabled device, hijack connections, and inject content into the traffic stream.

In other words: hackers can eavesdrop on your network traffic.

The bug represents a complete breakdown of the WPA2 protocol, for both personal and enterprise devices — putting every supported device at risk.

"If your device supports Wi-Fi, it is most likely affected," said Vanhoef, on his website.

Submission + - WPA2 has been cracked (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader writes: There is a new vulnerability and corresponding attack affecting the well known WPA2 protocol used for securing network access to wireless networks. The issue affects the protocol itself and is not related to a single product, as described by The Verge:

At about 7AM ET this morning, researchers revealed details of a new exploit called KRACK that takes advantage of vulnerabilities in Wi-Fi security to let attackers eavesdrop on traffic between computers and wireless access points. The exploit, as first reported by Ars Technica, takes advantage of several key management vulnerabilities in the WPA2 security protocol, the popular authentication scheme used to protect personal and enterprise Wi-Fi networks. “If your device supports Wi-Fi, it is most likely affected,” say researchers.

Submission + - WPA2 vulnerable, for now (zdnet.com)

_archangel writes: In a total breakdown of the WPA2 security protocol, hackers can, "decrypt network traffic from a WPA2-enabled device, hijack connections, and inject content into the traffic stream."

Comment Re:Of Course It Is (Score 1) 765

Completely agreed. People will remember you. What you can do and get away with legally or even ethically is not always what's best for your future.

It's a bad idea to tell to your boss why you're quitting, and it's a bad idea to quit without giving your boss and coworkers notice so they can make plans to handle the mess you leave behind as easily as possible.

Likewise, employers should do what's best for word-of-mouth, too. They might have every legal right to terminate without notice, and they might even feel it's ethical to do so for various reasons, but ex-employees will talk, and current employees are paying attention too.

There are always exceptions, when quoting immediately or firing immediately is called for. Those situations should be obvious to everyone.

Comment Gay porn would be the least of their worries (Score 1) 388

The porn on the phone is going to be child porn. If I was dying of cancer at 13, I'd be using that to get girls in my class to send me naked picts, no question about it. Kids don't wait until high school to start sexting each other, and dying kids get a ton of pity.

The kid's parents should be glad Apple isn't landing them in felony charges by letting them take possession of the unencrypted files. I'm just glad there was no such thing as sexting back when I was that age, or who knows what sort of illegal stuff I might have in old computer back-ups.

Anyway, pretty stupid of the parents not to have their kid's phone lock code, especially if he was terminal. I'll grant that in their situation I probably wouldn't be thinking of that beforehand either, but it's still stupid not to retain access to a kid's very expensive devices regardless of the circumstances.

Comment Re:FBI will lose this propaganda war with Apple (Score 1) 255

From the beginning, this was an FBI PR effort to cover their own asses. They know they can do nothing to protect Americans from terrorist attacks like the one in San Bernardino, their role is to investigate afterwards and figure out whodunnit, but in these sort of terrorist attacks everyone already knows whodunnit, the terrorists already destroyed evidence or changed up anything that might jeopardize other terrorist operations, and the FBI doesn't really have anything to do except issue press releases.

Since stupid Americans think it's the job of the governmentâ"and by extension the FBIâ"to protect them from every boo-boo (something that is simply impossible, but has a large impact on the FBI's yearly budget), the FBI has to go into CYA-mode. High level political appointees put pressure on the mid-level bureaucrats to deflect blame by any and all means necessary. If it wasn't encryption being scapegoated it'd be something else, but by pointing the finger elsewhere, the FBI can look like they're doing something, and continue to justify their budgetary expenses on ineffectual programs that employ a lot of FBI supervisors. I expect the low-level FBI grunts who actually have to carry out these programs and are forced by their bosses to go before judges and the media and lie know as well as we do that encryption, or Apple, or a lack of fascist law enforcement powers has no effect whatsoever on islamic terrorism. Islamic terrorism is caused by the political elites around the world that enable it through immigration policies, foreign policies, economic policies, and a culture of political correctness, as well as the well-protected-by-private-security liberals that want gun-free zones so the bullets are only flying on one direction when shit goes down.

So, pretty much politics-as-usual. Normally I wouldn't mind and just roll my eyes, but in this case and similar ones, the cost is to our basic liberties and the very soul of our nation.

Comment Re:Learn to walk before you run... (Score 1) 285

You don't think trying to create an ecology on Mars (even without terraforming, building some kind of self-sustaining "biodome" there) would teach us valuable lessons that could help us here on Earth?

Why does one have to come before the other? Working on both problems in parallel can provide scientific boons shared across both.

Comment Re:Seems obvious now (Score 2) 214

I was just trying to make a joke about how California sucks, but sure, let's nerd fight.

Starfleet Headquarters is in San Francisco
The Federation Council is in San Francisco
President of the United Federation of Planets is in Paris, but everyone knows the Federation Council has all the real power and it's been suggested the Federation is a parliamentary type system with the Council electing the President
France is also coastal, and to the west of the bulk of the continent on which it resides, thus west coast.
We don't know where the Federation Supreme Court is, but probably someplace on a west coast.

I maintain that if Trekkies took over the world, they would put their capital on a west coast.

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