New Hacking Tools Pose Bigger Threats to Wi-Fi Users
By KATE MURPHY February 16, 2011
You may think the only people capable of snooping on your Internet activity are government intelligence agents or possibly a talented teenage hacker holed up in his parents' basement. But some simple software lets just about anyone sitting next to you at your local coffee shop watch you browse the Web and even assume your identity online.
"Like it or not, we are now living in a cyberpunk novel," said Darren Kitchen, a systems administrator for an aerospace company in Richmond, Calif., and the host of Hak5, a video podcast about computer hacking and security. "When people find out how trivial and easy it is to see and even modify what you do online, they are shocked."
Until recently, only determined and knowledgeable hackers with fancy tools and lots of time on their hands could spy while you used your laptop or smartphone at Wi-Fi hot spots. But a free program called Firesheep, released in October, has made it simple to see what other users of an unsecured Wi-Fi network are doing and then log on as them at the sites they visited.
Without issuing any warnings of the possible threat, Web site administrators have since been scrambling to provide added protections.
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Hype, Shame, Cynicism, Laziness, and Incompetence. Cheap, obvious, and cynical exploitation of ignorant computer users. Give-'em-what-they-want sensationalism.
I could monitor an open hot-spot ten years ago, and, in case it wasn't obvious, the only important word in this despicable bit of once-over-lightly penmanship is "unsecured".
The solution is both easy and obvious: SSL. And as for security, any Internet cafe worthy of the name has its SSL fingerprint posted on every wall - *and* offers wired connections as well.
Whomever penned this piece of crud should be sent back to journalism school, assuming he ever attended.
Bill Horne Moderator