I would like to log in to ResellerRatings.com and not have my password visible to nodes on the internet between my computer and ResellerRatings.com's server.
Right now, I log in to
Login to Your Account at ResellerRatings.com
When I enter my password and click the 'LOG IN' button, the web browser puts my easily-readable password into a packet, and sends that packet to a nearby server. That server turns around and sends it on to another server, presumably "nearer" to its destination. The process repeats until it reaches ResellerRatings.com's server.
Although almost all servers use standard code to perform this pass-along service, somer servers have been hacked or set up to make copies of certain packets, such as those containing the string "password". Hackers can then examine those packets to extract the actual password. They can even automate the process for particular web site login pages, such as the login page for ResellerRatings.com.
Banks and other security-minded sites handle this with an https:// page. The 's' stands for 'secure'. For such pages, the web browser encrypts the FORM data before sending back over the internet to the server. When it reaches the destination server, that server knows how to decipher the FORM data. Hacker servers can still copy the packets, but the packets contain encrypted data that they cannot use.
Could ResellerRatings.com PLEASE change their web site so the login page is secure?
Thank you.