No, Firesheep isn’t a new virus. It isn’t a new breed of sheep. And it isn’t some teenagers having fun with a poor innocent creature.
Firesheep is a new piece of software that allows anyone to quickly and easily hack into your accounts like Facebook and Twitter. (Your bank account is safe.)
In this digital age you need to be careful of what you do online. You almost need to be an expert in computer security to fully protect yourself from hackers. Recently, it has come to the forefront yet again. A group of programmers created this piece of software that allows anyone on the same unsecured network as you to hack into your Facebook, Twitter and other accounts. They don’t need your password and you aren’t accidentally giving them access. They just steal it.
How is this possible? Well, I stated unsecured networks; places like coffee shops provided unsecured wifi (you don’t need a password to connect) for their customers. This means you head to Starbucks to get a coffee and to work for a bit, you quick check Facebook before starting and someone else in the store then takes over your user account. Maybe they post something on your wall. Maybe they change your password and your primary email address to their own. Freaked out yet? Now how about I say that software has been downloaded over 410,000 times as of this writing.
“Ok, smart ass. How do I protect myself?”
You won’t like it. Don’t log into any website when using unsecured wireless internet. Really, that is all you can do as a user. The rest is up to Facebook and the other services to fix. The fix is simple and the fix would take little time for them to implement.
In the mean time, there is some temporary fixes that can help stop it.
- Like I said already, only use a secure wifi connection.
- Secure your unsecured wireless access point. If you are the owner of an unsecured access point, enable WPA encryption and post the password on your wall for all to see. For instance, Starbucks could use the password of Starbucks.
- Use FireFox with the HTTPS Everywhere plugin. This option isn’t 100% as some things won’t work as expected when using that plugin.
Here are a few other geekier links if you are interested in learning more:
- Firesheep
- Protect from Firesheep
- Protect from Firesheep
- Why Firesheep’s Time Has Come
- Security Now [Audio] but has in-dept coverage on how it works and it brought down to a more lay-person’s level.
- Firesheep Security Tool Highlights Perils of Open Networks
Mike has been a long-time geek. He started with using an Apple ][e. Later, he used to have to reinstall Windows many, many times on his dad’s computer in order to fix something he messed up. He has been programming in RPG on the IBM i since 2000 and has delved some into other languages including Java, ASP.NET, and PHP....
