Using Web Apps Over Wi-Fi Is Risky

[HardOCP News]

How many times have you checked your Gmail account from a Wi-Fi hot spot? According to this news item, you are in jeopardy of having your account hijacked every time you use a Wi-Fi hot spot. Something to think about next time you are at Starbucks checking your e-mail.

It's not just those sites but any rich Web applications that exchange account information with users, including blogging sites such as Blogspot or even software-as-a-service offerings such as Salesforce.com, that could pose a risk for users, wrote Errata's Robert Graham, CEO, and David Maynor, chief technology officer, in a paper.

 

[psychoace]

Tin hats people, put them on and never take them off.

 

[Ockie]

I'm not going to worry about such a risk, this is why you always monitor your accounts and always keep fresh passwords.

 

[LOCO LAPTOP]

I'm not going to worry about such a risk, this is why you always monitor your accounts and always keep fresh passwords.

Yeah and always change passwords, I always change mine every 2 weeks.

 

[Nemesis999]

People use Wi-FI without some type of extra security? /shudder

 

[cleric_retribution]

hahah my roomate didn't believe that you could sniff traffic "out of the air", so we were sitting in our living room, and I fired up wireshark and picked out his AIM session and recorded all of it and showed it to him, and he freaked out and swore he'd never use wireless again lol

 

[RoBo]

People use Wi-FI without some type of extra security? /shudder

Go to your local hotspot and try to persuad them to use WPA.

 

[Nate Finch]

Does using HTTPS not get around that pretty much 100%?

 

[RoBo]

Does using HTTPS not get around that pretty much 100%?

Not 100% but yes it makes it more secure IF the site uses it.

 

[Nate Finch]

Gmail supports it. *shrug* Only real web app I use with any regularity.

 

[FLECOM]

vpns ftw