Broadband Tech > Security > Security > New method found to crack WPA - but not WPA2

Tews and his co-researcher Martin Beck found a way to break the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) key, used by WPA, in a relatively short amount of time: 12 to 15 minutes, according to Dragos Ruiu, the PacSec conference's organizer.

They have not, however, managed to crack the encryption keys used to secure data that goes from the PC to the router in this particular attack.

The work of Tews and Beck does not involve a dictionary attack, however.

To pull off their trick, the researchers first discovered a way to trick a WPA router into sending them large amounts of data. This makes cracking the key easier, but this technique is also combined with a "mathematical breakthrough," that lets them crack WPA much more quickly than any previous attempt, Ruiu said.

Tews is planning to publish the cryptographic work in an academic journal in the coming months, Ruiu said. Some of the code used in the attack was quietly added to Beck's Aircrack-ng Wi-Fi encryption hacking tool two weeks ago, he added.

A new wireless standard known as WPA2 is considered safe from the attack developed by Tews and Beck, but many WPA2 routers also support WPA.

Ruiu expects a lot more WPA research to follow this work. "Its just the starting point," he said. "Erik and Martin have just opened the box on a whole new hacker playground."

said by F430 :

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I thought that all WPA devices supported AES

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AES is optional in WPA and required in WPA2. So there are a number of compliant WPA devices which do not support AES.

said by KodiacZiller:

You sure WPA2 "requires" AES? From the DD-WRT Wiki:

However, some devices allow WPA (not WPA2) with AES (and WPA2 with TKIP).