Hacker coded Web traffic for $250

A hacking expert has launched a US$200 (S$250) password-cracking tool that makes it easy to decipher Internet traffic sent through a widely used method for securing businesses communications.

Mr Moxie Marlinspike, one of the world`s top encryption experts, unveiled the tool during a presentation at the Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas.

Marlinspike said he developed the service, CloudCracker.com, by taking advantage of a vulnerability he discovered in a widely used virtual private network technology known as point-to-point tunneling protocol.

Virtual private networks, or VPNs, scramble traffic as it travels between a PC and its final destination so that the data is useless to hackers if they eavesdrop on those communications.

BdST 2222 HRS, JUL 29, 2012

Edited by:
Sabbin Hasan, ICT Editor