In a step which will be welcomed by its security-conscious users, Twitter has announced that it is beginning to turn on HTTPS by default.
Why is this important? Just ask Ashton Kutcher.
Kutcher attended the brainbox TED Conference earlier this year, and connected to the unencrypted WiFi hotspot provided. A nearby hacker, possibly using a tool such as Firesheep, was able to jump onto Kutcher’s Twitter session and post pro-SSL graffiti in his name.
Unfortunately, if you log into Twitter over unencrypted WiFi – e.g. at a coffee shop or an airport lounge and you don’t have HTTPS enabled, then a hacker could sniff your session cookie. And anyone who can sniff your session cookie can pretend to be you.
That means they can post tweets as you or read your private direct messages. And you don’t want…
Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.
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