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Protect yourself from Firesheep with a VPN

Bob Morris, on Oct 28, 2010, 11:23 pm

Surfing on open wi-fi is no longer secure. Someone using Firesheep on the same open net can grab your cookies and even login as you on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

A virtual private network will solve the problem. Mashable profiles several VPNs and also has info on how to install a VPN on your iPhone or iPad.

Tags: , | Category: News | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)

  • http://prfound.org Jonathan Lundell

    For good or ill, the majority of users will not start using VPNs. The two-pronged solution is to set up passwords on open wi-fi networks (the password can be open; Starbucks can just set all their passwords to ‘starbucks’ if they like, or ‘open’), and password-protected sites like Facebook need to follow Google’s lead and make TLS mandatory.

    In the medium to long term, Firesheep is doing us a favor. This vulnerability has been around for a long time, and Firesheep has just made it easier to leverage.

    • http://polizeros.com Bob Morris

      I completely agree. All wi-fi needs a password. Starbucks can post it on the counter. Problem solved.

      In the meantime, use https when connecting to Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc.

      What’s TLS?

  • http://prfound.org Jonathan Lundell

    TLS is the secure layer underlying https (the successor to SSL).

    Google (I think) already enforces https for anything requiring a login. It used to be that you had to set it as a preference (in Gmail, for instance), but I think it’s now the default.

  • dumbosin2010

    1)I completely agree. All wi-fi needs a password. Starbucks can post it on the counter. Problem solved.
    REAL INFO:
    WRONG, with the password, all peeps are still on the network, anyone with a password can EASILY sniff another
    2)
    In the meantime, use https when connecting to Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc.
    REAL INFO:
    WRONG, https/SSL is easily spoofed
    all of this is garbage info, you MUST use a VPN, period