HTTPS Sniffing - Protect Your Identity

HTTPS Sniffer

When people use the Internet for doing personal business, such as making purchases online, their personal information can be stolen by millions of people. This is because their information was not sent securely using an HTTPS site. The security provided by an HTTPS site is what makes HTTPS sniffers completely different from any other kind. When information is sent online, it typically does not go directly to the person to whom it was addressed. Messages usually are broken down into segments and sent individually. This is what makes it so easy for hackers to steal information. They receive one segment of a message and it includes all the contact information. But when information is sent securely, it makes it impossible to sniff the information unless they perform man in the middle attack or uses a special SSL decrypting SDK.

With unsecured sites, regular sniffers can be used to track and steal information sent online. The reason a regular sniffer does not work is because the information sent uses encryption. You can think of this as what the military has long used to ensure their information would stay secure. Encryption takes regular material and transforms it using an algorithm. The material is deemed unreadable by anyone without the key. Unsecured sites do not use encryption so the information is just floating around for anyone to find it, mainly sniffers, or any software that uses them such as: Spywares, Malwares and Viruses.

Because it is so easy to sniff online, it makes it that much more important to use secured sites. So many people use the Internet to make purchases and to do their banking. The only way to ensure that your information will be kept safe is by using an HTTPS site.

To ensure that the Web site you are using employs encryption, it has to begin with HTTPS. It does not matter whether a site tells you it is secure, if it does not begin that way, it is not fully secure. You do not want to be a victim of online sniffing because you did not use a secure site. It will be much easier to find another site that is secured than it would be redeeming your credit crisis.