A flaw in common Wi-Fi protection could leave you vulnerable to hackers reading, stealing or even manipulating your data. It’s the “Krack Hack.”
Changing your password won’t protect you. Your best defense, tech experts say, is allowing or installing any updates and patches that are made available for your devices.
The good news is that hackers need proximity to succeed. They need to be close enough to your W-Fi signal and smart enough to know what to look for.
The Krack Hack targets widely used WPA2 (it stands for "Wi-Fi Protected Access 2") security. It's been a standard for safety for much of this century -- but now, even WPA2 networks are at risk for a cryptographic attack.
A WPA2 flaw means "protected" data could be sniffed, stolen or altered, according to the Belgian tech group KU Leuven.
That means passwords could be stolen, personal financial information could be sussed out and even funds could be transferred.
The good news is that a would-be hacker has to be physically within the range of a given Wi-Fi network in order to hack it. However, any device using a hacked Wi-Fi network is vulnerable.
Experts recommend using patches and other safety updates from manufacturers as they become available.