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Wireless security thrown into question with WPA crack

Internet security for wireless networks has been thrown into question following news that security researchers have devised a way to partially crack the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption standard used in them.

Researchers Erik Tews and his partner Martin Beck claim to have discovered a way to breach the security system and read data being sent from a router to a laptop computer, reports PC Advisor.

The researchers say they achieved this by devising a method to break the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) key, which is used by WPA in less than 15 minutes.

However, data from a computer to a route seems to still be safe as the researchers say they have not managed to break the encryption keys that guard this route, the website reports.

According to the two, this is the first practical attack on WPA and they plan to disclose their findings at the forthcoming two-day PacSec online security conference taking place from November 12th in Tokyo, Japan.

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