Pesky Little Brother

I love how fast technology moves and how new technology now has the ability to reach more people in a shorter period of time.  Unfortunately, technology can also move in the wrong direction.  It used to be that hacking technology was very expensive, but now any average Joe can be a hacker!

While driving yesterday, I heard an alarming story on Marketplace titled, Little Brother is Watching.  It reports on how just about anybody can access your personal data with easy-to-use programs like Firesheep.

"Firesheep, someone can get on an open wireless network, cafe or hotel whatever, see who is on there, double-click a name, and access what that person's doing online. So someone is logged in as you on Facebook, on Twitter, any unencrypted site. 

Seattle software developer Eric Butler says he created Firesheep to call attention to the inherent security problems presented by unsecured networks and by unencrypted web sites. Big name sites like Facebook or Twitter will encrypt your password as you log in, but after that a lot of that information is out there for the taking."

Sure makes me think twice about getting on an open wifi network next time I'm at a cafe.  Eeks!