Twitter 'Idiocy' Reveals Dangers of Public Wi-Fi
With today's release of a new Web tool called Idiocy, Twitter is now joining the ranks of the popular social networks that can be easily hijacked over a public Wi-Fi network.
Released on Oct. 27, Idiocy can monitor unsecured Web sessions those on public Wi-Fi networks -- and allow the hacker to take control of a user's Twitter account. Idiocy hijacks the accounts of those visiting Twitter on the unsafe network and posts warnings to users that they are vulnerable to attack.
The message reads, in part, that the user's account was hijacked with the intention of warning the user that their account can easily be modified without permission .
Idiocy is similar in scope to the recent Firesheep add-on that gives hackers a direct line to 26 different sites, including Facebook Amazon, and Google. In fact, Firesheep's motive, to illuminate the widespread security holes present in public Wi-Fi networks and many popular Websites, provided the inspiration for Idiocy's creator, software developer Jonty Wareing.
Idiocy is designed to warn people of the risks they're taking on public Wi-Fi networks, Warein wrote on his blog.
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