WPA3 and Wi-Fi Easy Connect won’t hit the mainstream right away - Robinson expects to see a surge in 2019, when certification for the next-generation Wi-Fi standard, IEEE 802.11ax, begins - but a few of the Wi-Fi Alliance’s more than 800 members are wasting no time getting the ball rolling. Earlier this year, Qualcomm said it would add support for WPA3 to its flagship system-on-chips as soon as June. Wi-Fi Easy Connect can be implemented alongside WPS, but the Wi-Fi Alliance is leaving that choice up to manufacturers. “You snap a picture with your phone to onboard it.”

“Each Wi-Fi Easy Connect device will have a QR code or a piece of paper inside the box,” Robinson said. It’s different from Wi-Fi Protect Setup, or WPS, which requires tapping a physical button on the router and client. Wi-Fi Easy Connect, a new connection protocol for WPA2 and WPA3 networks, lets users add devices with limited or no display interface to a network by scanning QR codes. WPA3 isn’t the only new protocol heading to Wi-Fi routers in the coming months. “It offers greater consistency in the application of security protocols … and better network resiliency,” Robinson said. It’s tailor-made for industrial, defense, and government networks with high-security requirements.

WPA3-Enterprise, a protocol intended for large-scale Wi-Fi deployments in corporate environments, offers a slightly different set of protections: a 192-bit security suite that’s aligned with the Commercial National Security Algorithm (CNSA) Suite from the Committee on National Security Systems. It requires no change in behavior whatsoever.” “Importantly, the connection experience is the same to users. “For every guess of the password, devices have to interact with each other,” Robinson explained. That’s because unlike WPA2, which authenticates devices to the network with a 4-way handshake, WPA3 uses Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), a protocol that both hardens security at the point of key exchange and protects data traffic even if the password is later compromised. Previous WPA protocols were susceptible to it, but with WPA3, it’s not so easy. WPA3-Personal is optimized for smaller, one-password networks in homes and apartments, and has an authentication mechanism that’s resistant to what’s known as a dictionary attack, in which hackers intercept traffic between a client and Wi-Fi router and use a graphics card or cloud computing service to iterate through all possible passwords. Learn the critical role of AI & ML in cybersecurity and industry specific case studies.

Wi fi alliance plugfest 2017