Is not enough that social media sites are getting in the spot light for many of the wrong reasons, now there is a free software program that is hacking Twitter and Facebook accounts at will…
Read on to find out if you can be affected!
As an affiliate marketer and without doubt you are using Twitter and Facebook, and if you are like me and travel with your laptop then you are accessing free WiFi hot spots all over the place to check emails, update Twitter and Facebook and also check your affiliate accounts right…
Doing This Can Be Placing Your Accounts In Harms Way….
There has been a software program released called Firesheep that is hacking accounts all over the world. This program is free for anyone to download and is making it easy for anyone who was not a hacker before to access anyone’s account on Facebook and Twitter.
Firesheep is a plugin that goes with the Firefox web browser where you simply download and install it and then you have the ability to not only view others web traffic but to actually hack into Facebook accounts and Twitter user accounts, giving that person full control of those accounts.
This Is How Easy This Is To Hack
You simply need to download the plugins have a Firefox browser, once installed restart your system and you are now able to view all internet traffic that is on that particular public WiFi network. What is happening with Twitter and Facebook in some cases is that people are using Firesheep to actually log in to other peoples accounts and take complete control and ownership.
However in saying that this plugin does not work on all computer chip sets presently. The reason for this is that some wireless adapters do not have a feature where you can set it to what is called “promiscuous mode” so for those that do not have access to a feature such as that will only be able to view their own traffic.
Oh and by the way there is a second file that is required to get Firesheep working correctly, however this will not be listed here, this post is solely to warn online business people and affiliate marketers of the dangers that await when accessing free internet wifi services.
Security Levels Appear To Be To Low
There are many issues that just are not realized when accessing a free WiFi hot spot, however the problem is compounded by social media sites not having enough security measures in place to stop this from happening.
Another issue also is the lack of security and firewalls inside the free wifi hot spots, again this all comes down to one thing, you get what you pay for and free means exactly that, enter at your own risk.
How To Prevent This From Happening To You..
The first way is to actually get your own WiFi account to conduct business online, especially if you travel. The next is just don’t enter user names and passwords on any unprotected WiFi connections that you have access to.
After speaking with many people about this and its affects I was surprised to find that many of these people were not even securing their own WiFi connection at home, meaning I could stop at the front of their home with my laptop that has a wireless connection and start viewing everything they were doing, not only that they were not aware that their neighbors could and in some cases were accessing there WiFi account to surf the net download games and movies.
Has any of your Twitter or Facebook accounts been accessed we would like to hear your story…
I never understood the pleasure people get in hacking into software and things like that…why do they do it??
-Jaimee
Hi Jaimee and Welcome…
You will never know the real reason why these programs are created, maybe simply because they can. But in my experience it always comes back to one thing “Money” and that could be in the guise of redirecting your account to something that makes money for the hacker or simply to destroy a business competitor.
That’s some scary stuff….I’ve seen this reported on a couple of blogs.
I don’t travel much, but when I do I’m going to think twice before getting free wi fi somewhere.
Hi Carolee
Yes it is a very scary thought… And even though it has been reported by a lot of the big media outlets this is still very much unknown buy a lot of people who are still using the free WiFi hotspots.
If you have to travel then you are better off having your own wifi connection where you can encrypt it so no one else can have access. Of simply do not log in to any accounts if you have to use a free WiFi hotspot, just use it to surf the web.
There is a pretty simple solution….just dont use free wifi lol. I like having my own secure internet and knowing that nothing bad (hopefully) will happen like this. Using free wifi is just begging for someone to steal your info and identity. Or if you are using free wifi, just be smart about it and just surf the internet, dont be going into your banking account or shopping with a credit card
Hi Ray
My thoughts exactly, however you have to remember one thing when it comes to people. We are very trusting creatures with technology, after all we lay out our lives to anyone interested on Facebook so would we think twice about how dangerous public access WiFi could be.