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Russian firm prompts concern over Wi-Fi vulnerabilities

A Russian firm has released password recovery software that has in effect made wireless encryption systems vulnerable to online threats, reports say.

The software from Elcomsoft can enable criminals to incorporate the latest nVidia graphics cards, which can speed up encryption key cracking paces by up to 10,000 times, according to its creators.

However, this capability threatens standard Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and WPA2 encryption systems, according to internet security expert Ken Munro, director of the penetration testing division of NCC Group.

Speaking to Computer Weekly, he said: "Cracking WPA keys used to be very time consuming, but with the speed of [graphics card] processors now, wireless keys are starting to look vulnerable.

"Most corporates should be using the much more resilient enterprise versions of WPA and they will be safe, but I have known some to use the personal version and they should upgrade as soon as possible."

The performance of nVidia graphics cards "is hundreds of times faster than the processor in a standard PC", according to Computer Weekly.

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