A Belgian security researcher who specializes in Wi-Fi bugs has discovered some new ones and called them FragAttacks. They affect the Wi-Fi standard itself. The name is short for "fragmentation and aggregation attacks."

Some vulnerabilities date back to 1997, which means that computers, smartphones and other smart devices as old as 24 years could be vulnerable to Wi-Fi attackers. If attackers are close enough, they may be able to intercept the owner's information, execute malicious code and/or take control of the device.

What's A Fragattack?

The term "FragAttack" generally refers to a collection of vulnerabilities linked to frames or data packets that can be exploited to either steal someone's information as it moves between networked devices - or to completely take over a device-whether it's a simple smart switch or that old laptop you use to search the web at home.

Attackers can either insert unwanted, unencrypted frames into a network, or they can exploit how frames are aggregated together (or aggregates are split apart) to inject and execute data that wasn't there, to begin with.

How To Protect Yourself From Fragattacks

The best way to keep your network as secure as possible from FragAttack vulnerabilities is to keep your devices updated.

Check that all of your routers, smart devices, laptops, phones, and other devices are running the most recent firmware and software updates available. If you're fortunate, the maker of your devices would have a method for automatically upgrading them. Otherwise, you'll need to make sure you're checking for important updates that can fix up bugs like these on a regular basis.

Beyond that, make sure you're using browser extensions like HTTPS Everywhere to ensure you're always connecting to secure websites (and that the data you're transmitting through your devices can't be intercepted).

Experts also suggest manually configuring custom DNS in your router and/or devices to help thwart any attacks that try to reroute a device to a malicious DNS server.