Protect Yourself from Firesheep and Other Sidejacking

What is side jacking?

Side jacking has become a significant issue after the frequency of the events of websites hacking in the recent years. There are large numbers of websites around the world that are extremely vulnerable of getting hacked at any time. Due to the increase of similar incidences, Eric Butler who is a web developer along with his colleague Ian Gallagher have made a Firefox plug in to raise proper awareness against attacks on websites and the plug-in is known as the Firesheep that can initiate sidejacking pretty easily.

There are numerous websites that are vulnerable for session hijacking and are in dire need to be fixed perfectly in order to avoid these incidences which can be done through exchanging information through TLS/SSL protocol. This Firesheep Sidejacking is known to be the most acceptable antidote for preventing these sidejacking incidences. However, no website administrators can ignore these incidences of sidejacking as the hackers can easily exploit these websites especially in public Internet service’s hotpots.

However, if you want to protect your personal database and sensitive information from sidejacking, you can try these options listed below:

1. Check the URL if it uses HTTPS or not

Websites that allows log in over unencrypted HTTP ports or revert to HTTP ports after the SSL login system are the primary target of the users. Any system that has the capability of intercepting the traffic process will be able to record or reuse the cookie and this will be identifying the user on subsequent requests. Therefore, your authentication details consisting of IDs and passwords will be easily hacked.

Nowadays, most modern browsers can detect any websites if it isn’t in HTTPS or its certificate was expired so better check the address bar first, especially if you typed the site correctly.

2. If your web browser warns you about a fraudulent site, don’t proceed

Modern browsers can display a full warning page if it detects a fraudulent site. Better close that tab or go back to the previous webpage.

3. Log out your account when you’re done

If you are using a public computer, then you must log off from all of the websites that you have entered and logged in. You can also use an Incognito window (also known as Private browsing or InPrivate) instead so that it will clear all of the data after you close the Incognito window.

4. Try to avoid unencrypted Wi-Fi connections

While in your home, make sure that your Wi-Fi router is set on WPA2-Personal instead of WEP or older WPA-Personal. On the office, make sure that it is in WPA2-Enterprise as well. If your in the public, avoid using Public Wi-Fi as these might be unsafe.

5. Use VPN service to protect everything

This is by far the best possible solution to protect yourself from Firesheep sidejacking when you cannot ensure the proper use of SSL properly on certain sensitive websites. You can certainly send your personal data traffics through a properly configured and encrypted VPN tunnel. Moreover, you will need to make sure that you preferable VPN service will not leak HTTP if the VPN tunnel goes down for some unknown reasons. However, a VPN service has the ability to prevent sidejacking no matter what type of network you prefer to use or websites that you visit randomly on a regular basis or using Internet service from public hotspots. If you are able to get one of the top charted VPN service, then you will certainly get all the advantages while accessing into different websites. Moreover, this specialized service will provide top notch online security and privacy that will help users from not getting hacked while accessing into some popular websites.

Best VPN Service Protect Yourself from Sidejacking:

Out of all the available VPN service providers you can follow the one listed below as they are the better service provider.