Google Release KRACK Fix For Android

A serious Wi-Fi weakness was released to the public last month that affected all operating systems with respect to Wi-Fi connections. At the time, only Microsoft had already addressed it and released a fix, but this month, Google announced it too has a patch available to address KRACK in its Android operating systems. The security bulletin addresses 31 vulnerabilities. Nine specifically address the KRACK issue, but other important elements are also covered.

Once the notification for any of your Android devices shows up, make sure to apply it right away. KRACK is a serious issue because it affects essentially every device that has Wi-Fi capabilities. Google has already started pushing out the patch, though it may take a couple of weeks for individual users to see it.

At home, if some notification about an update doesn’t show up on your mobile device soon that addresses this on Android, contact your cellular carrier. Sometimes they don’t push these out to their customers in a timely manner. There are many reasons for this, but for something this important and widespread, they should not delay. The more people are contacting them, the faster they will be to get it out there.

For businesses, there is a KRACK detector tool for Linux that can help you detect this attack on your network. It’s available on GitHub and is “meant to be run on the Access Point rather than the client devices. It listens on the Wi-Fi interface and waits for duplicate message 3 of the 4-way handshake. It then disconnects the suspected device, preventing it from sending any further sensitive data to the Access Point.”

All patches should be applied right away once they are issued.

As of writing, Apple and Linux still had not issued patches for KRACK. In the meantime, if you need to do tasks that involve entering confidential or sensitive information into a browser, use a Wi-Fi connection that you know is secure or use your cellular connection.