Windows 11 , Microsoft‘s new operating system, will force its users to use more current and secure security protocols for their wireless connections, since it will make it impossible to access WEP and WPA/WPA 2 TKIP WiFi networks , thus protecting of networks vulnerable to all kinds of attacks that allow the theft of information.
As we have seen in the changelog of Windows 11 build 22557 , the test version of Microsoft’s operating system for users registered in the Insider program, from now on “TKIP and WEP are obsolete security standards and Windows 11 is already it will not allow connections to those types as of this build. Contact your network administrator or upgrade your router to one that supports at least WPA2 (WPA3 is the current standard).”
Finding a more secure WiFi
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy): This type of encryption dates back to 1999. At that time it was the most used in the world, but of course, its use has been decreasing over the years. Upon its arrival, many bugs and security holes were discovered, which meant that it had to improve over time. Although the main bugs and holes were fixed, the truth is that it is an unreliable encryption and easy to exploit. It was declared obsolete in 2004.
WPA (WiFi Protected Access): WPA was the answer to the main failures and vulnerabilities of WEP, as a temporary remedy to alleviate security problems. The keys used by WPA are 256 bits, as opposed to the 128 bits used by WEP, although this is not the only improvement. It also incorporates message content and integrity checking to prevent them from being intercepted and the use of the TKIP temporary key protocol, which helps a router to be easily attacked as was the case with WEP. It was declared obsolete in 2012.
Evolution of WiFI encryption
This change in Windows 11 should not be a problem if you have a router with the WPA2 or even WPA3 standard , although the latter protocol is only present in newer devices. Most routers today already have one of these standards, so it shouldn’t be a concern, unless you have a very old router at home, or you just need to set a new encryption method for your password. of the Wi-Fi.
As for Windows 10, it still allows you to use these networks, but for some time now it has shown a warning message when connecting to them, warning that they are not secure and recommending the use of AES encryption. It is to be hoped that in the future it will also reject them.
Affects 2 out of 10 WiFis in Spain
According to data extracted from the Wigle.net website, of the almost 11 million wireless networks registered in our country, only 72% use WPA 2 , with the use of WPA 3 still residual. This means that there are currently some 715,110 WEP networks (6.67% of the total census) and 1,390,810 networks of the first WPA version (12.98%).
Networks and encryption Spain (Source: wigle.net).
Added to the 123,045 open networks (1.15%), it would mean a total of 2,228,965 insecure networks in Spain , 20.8% of the total analyzed.