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Prevent Wi-Fi Eavesdroppers from Hijacking Your Accounts

  • Article is provided courtesy of Cisco Press.
  • Date: Sep 20, 2011.

Contents

  1. Password Sniffing and Account Hijacking Techniques
  2. On Public Wi-Fi Hotspots
  3. On Your Own Network
  4. Securing Individual Sites and Services
  5. Summary

Article Description

Password sniffing and account hijacking have become more prevalent in recent years because of Wi-Fi and software that make these hacking techniques so easy. Eric Geier shows you how to protect your privacy when logging on to online accounts that don't always use secure connections, like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Amazon.

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Securing Individual Sites and Services

Securing Individual Sites and Services

You should also try to make sure all the websites or services you use via the Internet are using SSL encryption. That way you're protected just in case you connect to a public network and use it without a VPN connection or someone on your own private network (secured with WPA/WPA2-Personal) can't eavesdrop. If the website address begins with http (not secure) instead of https (secure with SSL), try to place an s in the address. Then make sure your browser detects the SSL encryption via a padlock or other notification.

Some social networks, web-based email providers, and other websites you log in to allow you to enable SSL connections if it isn't used by default. Check your account settings to see whether this is the case.

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