Attention everyone sitting inside a Starbucks/Library/Gas Station/Motel Lobby/Airport…If you’re on Wi-Fi, you’re taking a much bigger risk than before, and your data might not be as safe as you once believed.

You heard me right, but before you get all up in a panic, chill out and let me explain a few things first.   According to the article I just read, this new security risk was highlighted quite effectively at the Black Hat hacker conference.  Basically, the attacks use cookies, which are generally less protected, and that, in turn,  “gives attackers access to mail messages or the page someone maintains on sites such as MySpace or Facebook.  While this sounds terrible, which it is, there IS some good news.

The good news is, webmail clients like GMail let you, if you so desire, encrypt your data that is sent back and forth, thereby rendering a cookie theft (man that feels funny saying that) useless.   More good news is that really great hackers are onto this, and have now alerted makers of various computer software programs of the vulnerability.  Hopefully, with enough warning some major attack, or new style of data-theft can be successfully thwarted.

Cross your fingers, and keep those passwords fresh friends!

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