Lately, a firefox add-on called "Firesheep" which was created by Seattle-based software developer Eric Butler. Firesheep allow any other user or even an computer novice to hack into any person's facebook, twitter , amazon and other online account with just a WiFi network scanning ! What the user have to do is connect into an open Wi-Fi Network, open the add-ons and click a single button, the software will start capturing other user's login data and displaying user detail at the sidebar.
Which mean, now other people able to access your account or even get all the crucial data whenever you connect into an Open Wi-Fi Network ! And i personally think it's a privacy invasion ! This software does more harm than good !
However, there's still certain ways to protect yourself from " Firesheep" . According to Chet Wisniewski, a senior security adviser at antivirus vendor Sophos, the best defence is to use a VPN ( Virtual Private Network) whenever you connecting to public Wi-Fi networks in public places. A VPN encrypts all the trqaffic that goes on from your computer , including the sites which are vulnerable to Firesheep hijacking. Unfortunately, VPN is not a total solution because the information will only be protected while it is still in the VPN server and once the information leave the VPN , it will still be vulnerable, but much effort is needed for the hacker to steal that specific information . For more information to protect yourself , click here .
Source: Techworld , ZDnet (Photo: PCWorld )
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