|
Most “tech savvy” people know that that there are inherent risks to using Open Wireless Networks at coffee shops, airports, hotels, etc. Unfortunately, the risks are even greater than even most “tech savvy” people are aware of. A new Firefox add-on called Firesheep was released last week that allows ANYONE to hijack your Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Flickr or Google account access, as well as other social network and shopping sites.
If you are accessing any vulnerable account over an open wireless network (regardless of the browser you are using) your account can be hijacked and the hijacker will have full access to your account. This is possible because the hijacker has open, unencrypted access to the cookie for that website and the unencrypted traffic. So, even though the login to your account may be protected via SSL encryption the cookie and subsequent traffic are not.
For more information regarding Firesheep and this threat please read Gregg Keizer’s article at ComputerWorld.
Once again Kyoni recommends that our customers avoid the use of open wireless networks. We recommend that you minimize the use of wireless technologies in general and limit their use to secure, private networks. We also recommend that you disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your cell phones and avoid accessing your social networking sites, shopping accounts and financial accounts from your cell phones.
|
