This change was only introduced to Pixel phones with the December 2020 update, which carries build number RQ1AD depending on the model.

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January 4, 2021 10:05am Comment Mishaal Rahman PSA: Android 11 will no longer let you insecurely connect to enterprise WiFi networks If you own a Google Pixel and have updated to the latest December 2020 security update, you may have found that you are unable to connect to certain enterprise WiFi networks.

This is not a bug but is rather an intentional change that Google made to Android 11 that just so happens to be present in the build pushed to Pixel phones in December.

All Android phones that will receive an update to Android 11 are expected to eventually have this change, meaning were going to see a lot of angry complaints in the near future from users who cant add their enterprise WiFi network.

Heres what you need to know about why Google made the change and what you can do about it.

Why cant I add my enterprise WiFi network in Android 11 The problem that many users will come across after they update to Android 11 is that the Do Not Validate option under the CA certificate dropdown has been removed.

This option previously appeared when adding a new WiFi network with WPA2-Enterprise security.

Do Not Validate can be selected as an option for CA certificate when manually adding a WiFi network.

Screenshot: ASUS ZenFone 7 Pro running an Android 11 beta release with the October 2020 security patches.

After the December 2020 update for Pixel phones, the Do Not Validate option under CA certificate has been removed.

This option will likely be removed on other, non-Pixel Android phones in their Android 11 update or in a future update to their existing Android 11 release.

Screenshot: A Google Pixel 4 running Android 11 with the December 2020 security patches.

If an attacker performs a man-in-the-middle attack and takes control of the network, then they can point client devices to illegitimate servers owned by the attacker.

Network admins have been warned about this potential security risk for years, but there are still many enterprises, universities, schools, governmental organizations, and other institutions that have configured their network profiles insecurely.

Going forward, the security requirements adopted by the WiFi Alliance for the WPA3 specification has mandated this change, but as we all know, many organizations and governments are slow at upgrading things and tend to be lax when it comes to security.

Some organizations even knowing the risks involved still recommend users disable certificate validation when connecting to their WiFi network.

Samsung Tv Disable Wifi How To Connect To

A screenshot showing instructions from a neighborhood school board on how to connect to their WiFi network.

Notice the 4th step where this insecure practice is told to users.

It could take years before devices and routers supporting WPA3 become widespread, so Google is taking a big step right now to ensure that users can no longer subject themselves to the risks of skipping server certificate validation.

With this change, theyre putting network admins who continue to have users insecurely connect to their enterprise WiFi on notice.

Hopefully, enough users will complain to their network admin that they cant add their enterprise WiFi network as instructed, prompting them to make changes.

Samsung Tv Disable Wifi Software Updates Work

Because of the way Android software updates work, its possible that the initial release of Android 11 for your particular device wont be affected by this change.