It’s been a while since WiFi security had an upgrade – 14 years to be exact, and with data breaches and security a hot topic of debate, the powers that be see the time as right to roll out the next generation of WiFi.
The WiFi Alliance has officially launched WPA3, in a bit to usher in an era of more secure of WiFi following its last update – WiFi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) – being introduced back in 2004. Many hope it will lead the way for better encryption and with that, more secure technology in the home.
WPA3 is designed to eradicate security issues stemming from vulnerabilities in wireless networking – most significantly, it introduces individualised data encryption to protect your data against eavesdropping from within a WiFi network. Password protection has also been high on the agenda of the WiFi Alliance, seen in the rollout via ‘Simultaneous Authentication of Equals’ protocols in the signing in process, enforced to try and stop a hacker stealing a user’s password (however complex it is).
Specifically for the protection of smart home devices, WPA3 brings into play ‘Easy Connect’ so the phone can be used to set up WiFi on products that have a small or no display, for greater protection.
The Alliance states that professional-grade WPA3-Enterprise security offers the same as 192-bit encryption strength to keep data more security, but the effect of the rollout of WPA3 won’t be felt immediately in the smart home. Manufacturer uptake will vary when it comes to support for the standard being accessible on hardware, yet in the near future WPA3 support will become mandatory for all Alliance-certified products.