WiFlaw?

Some researchers in Australia are claiming that there's a major flaw in WiFi that "is likely to have worldwide ramifications." That seems to be overstating the problem a bit. The researchers basically found a way to take down any WiFi network - which I don't think is all that surprising. As this other article on the topic points out, it doesn't necessarily effect 802.11g networks, depending on how they're configured. As the world moves more towards 802.11g, then, this becomes less of an issue. Also, while it's never good that networks can be taken down, that's about all this attack does. It doesn't expose any data - which is a much more serious claim - and would have to involve someone being particularly malicious in trying to knock out a wireless network. Of course, there are other ways to do this as well: such as unplugging the access point.
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Filed Under: wifi, wi-fi


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