Wireless network security has moved through WEP, WPA and WPA2. WPA3, announced by the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2018, is the current Wi-Fi security standard.
What's New in WPA3
🔒 Safer Password Authentication (SAE)
Instead of the pre-shared key (PSK) method used in WPA2, WPA3-Personal uses a key exchange method called Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE). SAE makes it very hard to guess the password offline from captured connection traffic.
🔒 Protection Against Brute-Force Attacks
With WPA2, an attacker could capture the handshake and try passwords against it offline as many times as they liked. With WPA3, every password attempt requires a live exchange with the access point, which slows brute-force attacks down dramatically. Because a separate key is generated for each session, previously recorded traffic cannot be decrypted even if the password is later compromised.
🔒 Enhanced Security on Personal and Enterprise Networks
- WPA3-Personal: More secure connections for homes and small offices
- WPA3-Enterprise: An optional 192-bit security mode for enterprise environments
🔒 Encryption on Open Networks
Wi-Fi Enhanced Open (Opportunistic Wireless Encryption, OWE), announced by the Wi-Fi Alliance alongside WPA3, encrypts traffic between the device and the access point even on open networks that don't require a password. Both the access point and the device must support it.
What You Need to Know Before Switching to WPA3
- Older devices may not support WPA3
- Many current modems and routers can run WPA3 together with WPA2 in transition mode (WPA2/WPA3 mixed mode)
- You may need to update your device's firmware to enable WPA3
