Most of us connect with insecure wireless networks regularly in airports, coffee shops and anywhere there are open Wi-Fi networks (almost everyone does at some time). We need to be aware of the risks and take precautions.
Some wise guy recently created a Firefox plugin called FireSheep that allows anyone to hack into your personal information on Wi-Fi. His purpose was to prove it's really easy to steal your "cookies" when connected to Wi-Fi. With these "cookies" a person can pretty much steal your personal information by logging into any website you've visited.
What happens is this: Your server will tell you it's a secure connection, but once you have logged in your info and been "cookied," as your information is carried back to the server it travels through an insecure channel and someone with this plugin can easily grab it. Crazy, huh? What's great is we are living in a time that as all our internet magic unfolds for us to use, there are also smart people who can catch and understand such things and create a way to protect ourselves. In fact the guy who created this plugin did it to prove how vulnerable Wi-Fi connections are. So we should be grateful he did it.
It's always been computer geeks who have done this sort of thing, but now this plugin makes it easy for just regular folks to go online nearby, grab your "cookies" and follow to where you've logged in and grab your personal info. Not cool - but great to know about and take precautions. And actually we should be grateful to the developer of FireSheep to give us a "heads-up" that we need to consider protecting our Wi-Fi access.
Here is a great article that discusses this in more detail and options for protection from these hackers. Solutions are not free, but reasonable, worth investing in if you are going to be on public Wi-Fi. Lots of detail, but read down the page to get the facts about the Firefox FireSheep plugin and how to protect yourself. This additional article is written my someone more geeky than me:
Some wise guy recently created a Firefox plugin called FireSheep that allows anyone to hack into your personal information on Wi-Fi. His purpose was to prove it's really easy to steal your "cookies" when connected to Wi-Fi. With these "cookies" a person can pretty much steal your personal information by logging into any website you've visited.
What happens is this: Your server will tell you it's a secure connection, but once you have logged in your info and been "cookied," as your information is carried back to the server it travels through an insecure channel and someone with this plugin can easily grab it. Crazy, huh? What's great is we are living in a time that as all our internet magic unfolds for us to use, there are also smart people who can catch and understand such things and create a way to protect ourselves. In fact the guy who created this plugin did it to prove how vulnerable Wi-Fi connections are. So we should be grateful he did it.
It's always been computer geeks who have done this sort of thing, but now this plugin makes it easy for just regular folks to go online nearby, grab your "cookies" and follow to where you've logged in and grab your personal info. Not cool - but great to know about and take precautions. And actually we should be grateful to the developer of FireSheep to give us a "heads-up" that we need to consider protecting our Wi-Fi access.
Here is a great article that discusses this in more detail and options for protection from these hackers. Solutions are not free, but reasonable, worth investing in if you are going to be on public Wi-Fi. Lots of detail, but read down the page to get the facts about the Firefox FireSheep plugin and how to protect yourself. This additional article is written my someone more geeky than me:
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