Stop Firesheep Hackers With This New (Free) Tool

A free tool from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) protects small business laptops against eavesdropping by hackers using the Firesheep plugin for Firefox by ensuring all communication over open Wi-Fi networks uses the secure HTTPS protocol.

"If the news of Firesheep--a simple Firefox extension that allows anyone to hijack social networking or webmail sessions over unprotected WiFi networks--has you worried, a free tool to protect you from Firesheep and its ilk released today by the Electronic Frontier Foundation is for you.

Many websites use HTTPS to secure their communications with their visitors. The protocol encrypts both requests from a browser to a website and the pages displayed from the site. "Without HTTPS, your online reading habits and activities are vulnerable to eavesdropping, and your accounts are vulnerable to hijacking," the organization explained in a statement."