I run an open wireless network—not necessarily out of the good of my soul, more because I’m lazy and I believe in being responsible for application-level security myself.

My network was running slowly last night, so I figured somebody was leeching my connection. I fired up nmap and wireshark and found a few people. One of them was generating activity, so I started a packet capture—to my surprise, they were using Gmail, in plaintext, on my unencrypted wireless network. They were quite literally broadcasting their contacts, security cookies, etc., into the block or so surrounding my home.

At this point, I thought most people had gotten the message that SENDING THINGS IN PLAINTEXT IS LIKE CC:ING THE WHOLE WORLD. Maybe not.

Do you guys run Gmail in SSL (preferences -> bottom -> “Browser connection”?) Did you know about the risks of not using SSL? Do you give a damn?

Topics: computers, internet, security, Gmail, https, ssl, noobs, internet hate machine