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The latest graphics cards have been used to break Wi-Fi encryption far quicker than was previously possible. Some security consultants are already suggesting the development blows Wi-Fi security out of the water and that corporations ought to apply tighter VPN controls, or abandon wireless networks altogether, in response.

Russian firm ElcomSoft has applied GPU acceleration technology to its password recovery tool to allow PCs or servers running supported NVIDIA video cards to break Wi-Fi encryption up to 100 times faster than is possible by using conventional microprocessors. Recovery times for Wi-Fi keys are increased by a factor between 10 to 15 in the use of Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery in combination with a regular laptop featuring NVIDIA GeForce 8800M or 9800M series GPUs.

By running the same software on a desktop with two or more NVIDIA GTX 280 boards installed, this figure increases to a factor of 100.

We've known for years that the previous generation of wireless encryption, WEP, was vulnerable to brute force attack. The infamous compromise of TJX, which resulted in the compromise of at least 45.7m credit card records, has been traced back to a hack in a weak security retail network with older point of sale terminals running WEP.

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