What is WPA3 and how is it better than WPA2?
D3 · Architecture · CompTIA Security+ SY0-701WPA3 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 3) is the latest Wi-Fi security standard, replacing WPA2 with improved protections against modern attacks.
WPA3 improvements over WPA2:
✅ SAE (Simultaneous Authentication of Equals) — replaces PSK handshake, resistant to offline dictionary attacks and KRACK
✅ Forward secrecy — captured traffic can't be decrypted later even if the password is compromised
✅ OWE (Opportunistic Wireless Encryption) — encrypts open/public Wi-Fi
✅ 192-bit security suite for Enterprise mode
WPA3 improvements over WPA2:
✅ SAE (Simultaneous Authentication of Equals) — replaces PSK handshake, resistant to offline dictionary attacks and KRACK
✅ Forward secrecy — captured traffic can't be decrypted later even if the password is compromised
✅ OWE (Opportunistic Wireless Encryption) — encrypts open/public Wi-Fi
✅ 192-bit security suite for Enterprise mode
WPA2-PSK is vulnerable to offline brute-force attacks against captured 4-way handshakes. WPA3-SAE (Dragonfly handshake) eliminates this. WPA3-Personal = SAE. WPA3-Enterprise = 192-bit security. WPA2 is still acceptable but WPA3 is preferred for new deployments.