What is WPS? What is it for?

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WPS
1. What is WPS?
The Pin
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WPS

Internet, that tool we all use every day, from home, from the street, anywhere.

Today we do not conceive of life without the Internet, as it has become a basic tool, almost as electricity and water is a fixed expense among the basic needs.

We are accustomed to leave home and arrive at some bar, pub, a friend's house, or any other place, and the first thing we do is ask if they have Wi-Fi, and if not, look to see if we find some free or that with the "programs" of the Smartphone we can access some fraudulently.

On the Internet we can find several ways to enter a private Wi-Fi key, from programs that use the default keys, brute force using dictionaries and / or WPS vulnerability, on which we will focus this article.

What is WPS?

Without going into technical definitions, and with a rough explanation, we can define WPS as a standard for configuring the WLAN in a simple way, minimizing user intervention in the configuration. Access with WPS can be done in four different ways:

PIN: It consists of assigning a PIN number to each device that is going to connect to the network, so that this number is known by the router and by the device that we are going to connect, this PIN will be introduced by hand from the client device. This number is usually pasted on the bottom of the router.
PBC: Consists of an exchange of credentials from the router to the client, so that the two devices have a physical or virtual button that when pressed at the same time make the exchange of credentials. It should be noted that in the time frame in which credentials are exchanged if there is another device nearby, you can get access.
NFC: Consists of more or less the same procedure as in PBC but instead of having one button on the router and another on the client device, the exchange of credentials does so by passing the device at a distance of between 0 and 20 cm. For this functionality to exist both devices must have this technology.
USB: The most secure, but the least used, since it consists of saving the credentials in a USB device, and copy them from the router to the client.

The Pin

All these methods have focused on the connection between a router and a Smartphone or laptop, but the use is widespread for connecting keyboards, mice, webcam, printer, and the various peripherals of a computer. The PIN or PBC button is usually used on most routers.

In the case that the WPS of our router is by PIN, it is advisable to deactivate it, since several programs allow the access to Internet in a fraudulent way using the predetermined PIN of each router.

To check who uses your Wi-Fi you can access your router and on many models you can check the history of devices that have connected or also those that are connected at that time.

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