What is hijacking and how do session hijack works?

Session hijacker tool is actually a packet sniffer that monitors traffic between a Wi-Fi router and users connecting to the network. It can then do their dirty work based on the collected packets. Session hijacking is a method of taking over a web user session by obtaining the session ID and then disguising as the authorized user. It means that you wouldn’t even know when they hijacked your session, surfing the websites and doing stuff using your account.

FaceNiff – Session Hijacking using mobile phone

Similar to FireSheep, there is another tool now specially made for mobile phones! FaceNiff is an Android application that allows you to sniff and intercept web session over public WiFi. It requires a rooted android phone (similar to iphone’s jailbreak). Below shows how easy it was to hijack a Facebook session:

Protection = Encryption

Imagine you are in a big public WiFi network like university campus accessing sensitive data, your account and data is not safe. Therefore to protect against these hijack attacks, the first and more important step is to use HTTPS to surf the web whenever possible. Although HTTPS still does not promises 100% protection because you are still using public network, but it does provide extra protection for free, so why not? Twitter and Facebook have HTTPS enabled, maybe not by default, but they can be easily enforced. Here’s how:

Twitter
To enable HTTPS in Twitter, go to Settings > Account tab > Tick “Always use HTTPS” checkbox

Facebook
To enable HTTPS in Facebook, go to Account Settings > Settings tab > under “Account Security” > Tick “Secure Browsing (https)” checkbox

However in Facebook, not every apps or games has HTTPS so when you load a game, Facebook might temporarily disable HTTPS.

HTTPS

The main idea of HTTPS is to create a secure channel over an insecure network. This ensures reasonable protection from eavesdroppers and man-in-the-middle attacks, provided that adequate cipher suites are used and that the server certificate is verified and trusted.

More info about HTTPS

We posted a topic about Android 2.3.3 Bugs in Nexus One earlier. We encountered 3 bugs, this update is known to fix one of them (hopefully more, I am going to try it out soon).

How to Update Manually?

Instead of waiting for the OTA update which can take few more days or weeks, we wouldn’t know, you can download this build number GRJ22 update released by Google, then follow the steps below to perform the update manually.

• Download the update (zip file)
• Rename the file to “update.zip”. It’s already a zipped file, so rename it to “update” if you had your file extension hidden.
• Copy the update.zip file, paste it into your microSD card.
• Shut down your Nexus One. When your phone is off, press & hold the trackball then press the power button on top.
• You’ll now see a white screen with three Android robots.
• Using volume up and down button to navigate, select “Bootloader” by pressing power button
• Next, select “Recovery” (again, using volume up and down button to navigate and power button to select)
• Your phone will reboot, you will then see an exclamation mark inside a triangle.
• Now press the power button and volume up button at the same time. Keep trying until you see a menu appears.
• Using trackball, choose “Apply sdcard:update.zip” and wait for the update to run itself

That’s it.

What’s New?

According to Google Help Forum Staff :

New feature: video chat in Google Talk

Previously only available to tablet users on Android 3.0, Google Talk with video and voice chat is now available on Android phones running 2.3.4 that have front-facing cameras, starting with Nexus S. For more information please see our blog post:
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/04/video-chat-on-your-android-phone.html

Bug fixes for Nexus S & Nexus One

- Phone shuts down or reboots: a very small percentage of users reported this problem, which is fixed with the latest release. (Nexus S)
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=44db6d8e31129d4c

- Wi-fi & 3G icons both indicate active: for anyone who saw this strange behavior in your phone’s status bar, it should now be fixed. (Nexus S)
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=62b9e23a049f4ef0

- Battery life: some users let us know that their batteries didn’t seem to be lasting as long; battery life should be improved for these folks. (Nexus One)
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=5d1a4878e4ace375

- GPS location/navigation: some Nexus One users who noticed location and navigation problems after updating to 2.3.3 should notice improved location accuracy. (Nexus One)
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=4e60b45c18d6665c

I will update this topic again after I updated my phone.

The Trackball LED problem

Even after you enabled pulse notification light, the LED won’t blink like it used to perform in froyo. This problem has been bugging me in applications like WhatsApp and Handcent because I often depend on the LED colour to know that who is looking for me. For example, pink light for my loved one :) However, LED blinking is working totally fine in Plume for Twitter and the official Facebook app. Weird problem huh?

Screen Black-Out (blank screen)

I encountered this problem randomly, like once per few days on normal usage. It usually happens when I quit from application using back button, then it reached a page with nothing at all, just black screen. I have to press Home button to get out of the black screen and my phone lags a little after that. I usually “fix” the lag by restarting my phone. It’s tiring to wait!

Delay When Answering Calls

Everytime I answer my call, I have to wait for like 1 or 2 seconds after accepting the call, then only I can start hearing voices from the other side. Not a major problem, though.

There are more!

Some users complaint about shorter battery life after the update which does not happen to me. Despite the bugs mentioned, I still like Android as my primary phone OS. P/S I like the screen off animation! Every OS has their own weaknesses as nothing is perfect. Now all we can do is just wait for the fix. Cheers :)

Three months ago, Official Google Nexus tweeted that the upcoming Android 2.3 (gingerbread) will be available to Nexus One via OTA in a few weeks time. As usual, when they said “few weeks”, they actually mean few months.

Now Google finally tweeted to confirm that the OTA update has started to roll out to all N1 users. But how long would it take to reach you? If you cannot wait to get gingerbread running on your Nexus One, here’s how to update your phone manually and safely. (Manually updating your phone is same as OTA update, they both use the same update files)

Updating Nexus One to Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread)

Please check your Android build version. If it is “FRG83G”, follow the steps below.

• Download the update (zip file) provided by XDA
• Rename the file to “update.zip”. It’s already a zipped file, so rename it to “update” if you had your file extension hidden.
• Copy the update.zip file, paste it into your microSD card.
• Shut down your Nexus One. When your phone is off, press & hold the trackball then press the power button on top.
• You’ll now see a white screen with three Android robots. Check your version of HBOOT written at the top. If your version is HBOOT-0.35.0017 like me, you can update your phone without problem
• Using volume up and down button to navigate, select “Bootloader” by pressing power button
• Next, select “Recovery” (again, using volume up and down button to navigate and power button to select)
• Your phone will reboot, you will then see an exclamation mark inside a triangle.
• Now press the power button and volume up button at the same time. Keep trying until you see a menu appears.
• Using trackball, choose “Apply sdcard:update.zip” and wait for the update to run itself

For me, the overall update took about 10 minutes. Enjoy your Nexus One with Gingerbread!

However, after the update I am having a problem with my LED light. It is not blinking when I have notification in some apps like Handcent. What about you?

P/S: Turn off your screen to see the whole new animation!

I got an error!

If you get the getprop/status 7 error and the phone failed to update, it is actually because you have an old version of Hboot. Most likely your phone’s build version is not FRG83G. This is because the previous OTA update to FRG83G should have updated your HBOOT version to HBOOT-0.35.0017.

If you still want to continue, you can follow the guide to prepare your Nexus One for Gingerbread. Else, you will have to wait for the OTA update to reach your phone.