Gadgets
Wi-Fi Vulnerabilities Impacting Nearly All Connected Devices Discovered
Mathy Vanhoef has found the new set of Wi-Fi vulnerabilities that he calls “fragmentation and aggregation attacks” — or FragAttacks in short. The researcher detailed the flaws through a dedicated site, as initially reported by Gizmodo.
According to the details provided online, there are 12 different security issues that could potentially leak user data or allow hackers to gain access to a device. Three of the discovered vulnerabilities are design flaws in the Wi-Fi standard and are thus believed to impact most devices out in the market, Vanhoef said. However, the researcher also found several other vulnerabilities that exist due to programming-level issues in Wi-Fi devices.
In one case, Vanhoef noted that a hacker could exploit Wi-Fi networks by injecting plaintext aggregated frames that look like handshake messages on a system. He also mentioned another flaw that could be exploited by tricking victims into processing encrypted transported data unintentionally.
The issues could impact users on Wi-Fi networks based on WPA2 or even WPA3 standards, the researcher said. A video demonstration of the key flaws has also been provided by the researcher.
Thankfully, Vanhoef underlined that the design flaws he found are hard to abuse as attackers require user interaction or need to use some uncommon network settings. The vulnerabilities were reported to various device makers and some of them have provided fixes for their devices. Similarly, the researcher informed the Wi-Fi Alliance and helped prepare security updates during a nine-month-long coordinated disclosure.
Although the exact period for how long the vulnerabilities exist is unknown, Vanhoef said on his site that even the original security protocol of Wi-Fi — WEP — is affected. It was notably released back in 1997.
Users are advised to install the latest software updates on their Wi-Fi devices to patch the loopholes. Microsoft has issued updates to address three of the more common vulnerabilities in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7. You should install these updates on your system to stay protected.
Similarly, companies including Cisco, Ruckus, Intel, Lenovo, Netgear, Samsung, and Synology have released patches for their devices. Given the reputation of Vanhoef and thanks to his background with discovering KRACK attacks, many other companies are likely to release patches for their devices in the coming days. Meanwhile, in case if a user doesn’t get an update for their devices, Vanhoef recommended that the issues can be mitigated by visiting only websites that use HTTPS, have the latest updates in place, and must not reuse passwords.
“At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games,” Haiyan Zhang, GM, Xbox Gaming AI, said in a blog post. “This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.”
The aforementioned AI design copilot is a toolset that will help game designers turn prompts into scripts and dialogue trees. In contrast, the character runtime will enable dynamically generated plot beats and quests. We’ve already seen heavy AI integration in games by way of procedural generation — a more recent example being the 1000+ planets in Starfield. Not to mention, enemy AI has been around for way longer.
Inworld made headlines in August when it launched a modded story mode for Grand Theft Auto V, Sentient Streets, in which players had to investigate the rise of a bizarre AI-worshipping cult — a segment loaded with characters that spoke in AI-generated dialogue, on the fly. The mod was later taken down by publisher Take-Two, leaving a permanent strike on the creator Bloc’s YouTube channel. As per The Verge, Inworld’s AI technology can also be used for narration in top-down RPGs to warn players about any events awaiting off-screen and respond to questions like we’ve seen in the past year with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Microsoft has also been heavily banking on artificial intelligence, having made a $10 billion (about Rs. 83,254 crore) investment in OpenAI. The company has also integrated AI tools into its popular suite of services and also added an AI copilot to Windows.
Despite being a Microsoft-affiliated AI toolset, it would be interesting to see whether titles using them will be allowed to thrive on other platforms. In July, Valve claimed that it would be cracking down on games that included AI-generated assets if the developer didn’t own the copyright to the piece of art. For the uninitiated, when you insert a prompt to create something in AI, the software simply repurposes existing assets found online and mushes them together — basically stealing from other artists and writers without appropriate commercial licenses. Infringing them would lead to the game not being distributed on Steam, forcing the developers to seek proper licenses for the asset by reaching out to the AI companies involved. It’s unclear how Microsoft’s partnership will play out — as long as AI content is being used as a catalyst to innovate and create something new, it should be fine.
In a post on X shared by BSNL’s Andhra Pradesh (@bsnl_ap_circle) unit, the company confirmed that BSNL users can upgrade their older 2G or 3G SIMs to a 4G SIM for free. Not only will the upgrade be free, but a promotional image shared with the post suggests that users who opt for the upgrade will also receive 4GB of free data that will be valid for three months. It is speculated that BSNL is aiming to boost its upcoming 4G services with this offer. The announcement was first spotted by Telecom Talk.
To access the free data offer and the free upgrade, BSNL users are requested to get in touch with executives at BSNL’s Customer Service Centre, franchisee or retailer stores, or contact one of their Direct Selling Agents (DSA). The promo image also adds in a finer print that the offer is available with certain terms and conditions, but hasn’t detailed any, so far.
Reliance’s Jio recently launched the 4G-supported Bharat B1 feature phone in India. The handset is priced at Rs. 1,299 in India. Alongside 4G connectivity, the phone comes with JioCinema and JioSaavn applications pre-installed.
The Jio Bharat B1 is equipped with the JioPay application, which is said to allow users to make UPI payments. Aiming to increase accessibility, the phone supports 23 languages overall, including multiple regional languages.
Realme, via Weibo, announced the arrival of the Realme GT 5 Pro in China. The display of the handset is confirmed to offer 3000 nits peak brightness. It has also been teased to offer heat dissipation with a surface area of around 10,000mm2. It is confirmed to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The post doesn’t specify the exact launch date of the smartphone, however, given the release of the teasers, the launch could be just around the corner.
The Realme GT 5 Pro has been in the news a lot lately. It is expected to feature a 6.78-inch (1,264×2,780 pixels) AMOLED display and is tipped to come in 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB RAM options along with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB inbuilt storage options.
For optics, the Realme GT 5 Pro is said to have a triple rear camera unit comprising two 50-megapixel sensors and an 8-megapixel shooter at the rear. The camera setup might include a Sony LYTIA LYT808 sensor, an OmniVision OV08D10 secondary sensor, and a Sony IMX890 telephoto sensor. For selfies, there could be a 32-megapixel sensor at the front. It is said to carry a 5,400mAh battery with support for 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
The Realme GT 5 Pro is expected to come with upgrades over Realme GT 5. The latter was launched in China in August with a price tag of CNY 2,999 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
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