DoctorDoom
08-04-2007, 10:35 AM
Hackers and computer security specialists gathered in Las Vegas on Friday took aim at popular social networking websites, exposing ways to plunder data from software "cookies" used to track users.
Revelations made at an international gathering of hackers dubbed DefCon come as Internet rivals Google, Microsoft, and Ask acquire firms that rely on cookies to better target money-making online ads.
"Websites could easily fix the problem by encrypting cookies," Errata Security chief executive Robert Graham told AFP.
US college student Rick Deacon arrived at DefCon on Friday ready to demonstrate how to use trickery and software skills to steal enough information from MySpace users' cookies to commandeer their profile pages.Hackers bite into "cookies" to plunder user data from websites (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070804154818.zvoqmfa0&show_article=1&catnum=0)
The Web is a dangerous place. Caution is the watchword.
Revelations made at an international gathering of hackers dubbed DefCon come as Internet rivals Google, Microsoft, and Ask acquire firms that rely on cookies to better target money-making online ads.
"Websites could easily fix the problem by encrypting cookies," Errata Security chief executive Robert Graham told AFP.
US college student Rick Deacon arrived at DefCon on Friday ready to demonstrate how to use trickery and software skills to steal enough information from MySpace users' cookies to commandeer their profile pages.Hackers bite into "cookies" to plunder user data from websites (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070804154818.zvoqmfa0&show_article=1&catnum=0)
The Web is a dangerous place. Caution is the watchword.