Firesheep, the packet-sniffing Firefox plug-in that grazes on (and then BURNS!!!) public Wi-Fi networks, could leave your Facebook or Twitter account compromised. FireShepherd arrived last week to protect Windows users, but now Mac users have a defense measure: BlackSheep.
No not that weird not-as-funny-as-Tommy Boy Chris Farley and David Spade movie, this is BlackSheep, a FireFox plug-in from cloud security dudes Zscaler that will keep your accounts out of the hands of snoopers.
BlackSheep basically sends bogus login info out to the network every however-many minutes (you can set it in BlackSheep's preferences menu) and sees if anyone's creeping around waiting around to pick it up. If they are, you'll be notified with this pop-up:
When you see that you know to find a new network. Zscaler notes, however, that things might get wonky if you already have Firesheep installed, because BlackSheep essentially uses the same code. But anyway, if you're worried about this sort of thing and you're on a Mac, it's a fine early defense system. [Zscaler via TechCrunch]