How To Keep Hackers From Hijacking Your Accounts With Firesheep

Firesheep. Created to demonstrate our vulnerability on public wireless networks but still a viable way for prying eyes to assume your identity. Enter FireShepherd, a Windows application that jams Firesheep to keep your browsing private. Let’s set it up.

Turns out, there’s actually very little setting up to do! Lucky for you, and not creeps who want to steal your Facebook account. FireShepherd is a tiny program that will work automatically once opened. Download it here. It operates simply – filling your current wireless network with benign junk data that tricks Firesheep into thinking it’s latched onto your personal info – and crashing it in the process.

So it’s simple. Logging in at the library? At Starbucks? Pop open FireShepherd and browse in (relative) safety. FireShepherd’s programmer, Gunnar Atli Sigurdsson, warns that “the user is still in danger of all other session hijacking mechanisms. Do not do anything over a untrusted network that you cannot share with everyone.” And he’s right – but you’ll at least be able to cross Firesheep off your worry list.