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Applied Microsoft's security updates? You're safe from KRACK

Microsoft says customers who applied Oct. 10 Windows updates are free from the Wi-Fi security flaw.

abrar-al-heeti2
abrar-al-heeti2
Abrar Al-Heeti Video producer / CNET
Abrar Al-Heeti is a video host and producer for CNET, with an interest in internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. Before joining the video team, she was a writer for CNET's culture team. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET breaking down the latest trends on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram, while also reporting on diversity and inclusion initiatives in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has twice been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
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Abrar Al-Heeti
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If you have Windows Update enabled and applied recent security updates, you should be safe. 

 Sarah Tew/CNET

Microsoft customers who have enabled Windows Update and applied security updates from Oct. 10 are automatically protected from a Wi-Fi security flaw nicknamed "KRACK," according to a company spokesperson. 

The weakness in the WPA2 protocol, designed to protect wireless networks and devices, was discovered by computer security academic Mathy Vanhoef, CNET sister site ZDNet reported Monday. "KRACK" is short for Key Reinstallation Attack. The protocol is central to most modern Wi-Fi devices, such as computers, phones and routers. This places virtually all wireless-enabled devices at risk.  

The bug could allow hackers to eavesdrop on your network traffic.   

"We updated to protect customers as soon as possible, but as a responsible industry partner, we withheld disclosure until other vendors could develop and release updates," the Microsoft spokesperson said.