Fot a while, it looked like Firefox might have met its match. Firesheep, a Firefox extension for Mac or PC, lets users gain access to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook from other computers on open WiFi networks.
Talk about vulnerability.
The guy who created Firesheep, in fact, says he did it to show how vulnerable we all are. Of course, that knowledge does you a lot of good if you're being hacked in your favorite coffeeshop.
To the rescue? Silicon Valley technology.
Zscaler of Suunyvale has just released what it calls BlackSheep, a free plug-in for Firefox that monitors traffic to your computer, and lets you know if Firesheep is being used on the WiFi network that you're on.
Zscaler has been getting some positive attention from techies lately: It recently created what it calls Search Engine Security, or SES, another plug-in that targets the threat from search engines that could lead you to malware or other security risks.
If you're a Firefox fan, and fear Firesheep, you can now download BlackSheep from the Zscaler page.
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It just might make your favorite WiFi hotspot a safe place to surf again. Have you tried it? Let me know. I'm on Twitter: @scottbudman
