There has been a steady increase in the number of applications that have switched to using HTTPS instead of HTTP for communication. Even sites that have no sensitive information or authentication mechanisms. Using HTTPS provides authentication and a secure channel to transmit data between client and server. The authentication verifies that you are communicating with the organization you thought you were. This secure transmission is meant to stop other parties from being able to read or … [Read more...] about Secure Notification Updates in FireFox and Chrome
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The Hidden Reason for Switching to HTTPS
If you run a website, you have probably debated on whether or not you need to make the switch to HTTPS instead of using HTTP. For those that still don't know, HTTPS is the encrypted version of HTTP. This is typically seen on banking sites, touted to protect your sensitive information when transmitted between you (your browser) and the application. I wrote on this topic about a year ago in the post: Is HTTP being left behind for HTTPS? Back then there was a big push for making the switch … [Read more...] about The Hidden Reason for Switching to HTTPS
Is HTTP being left behind for HTTPS?
A few years ago, a FireFox plugin was created called FireSheep. This tool was designed to sniff network traffic looking for common websites that were being visited over HTTP. HTTP sends the traffic between your system and the server in clear text. If it found a request/response of an authenticated user, it would capture the session cookie and allow the user of FireSheep to hijack the current session. While the site most likely performed the initial authentication with the … [Read more...] about Is HTTP being left behind for HTTPS?