ID: IRCNE2011071173
Date: 2011-07-09
Computerworld - Microsoft on Thursday boosted the security of a tool that lets Outlook users send and receive messages through the company's Web-based Hotmail service.
The new Outlook Hotmail Connector supports HTTPS, a protocol that encrypts all traffic between the email client and the Windows Live Hotmail service.
Microsoft added an all-HTTPS option to Hotmail in November 2010, in part as a reaction to Firesheep, a Firefox add-on released the month earlier that let anyone scan an unsecured Wi-Fi network and hijack other's access to Facebook, Twitter and a host of other services.
This week's update to Outlook Hotmail Connector is a follow-up to Microsoft's 2010 move.
"Using a connection with HTTPS helps you be even more confident that your account is safer from hijackers, and that your private information remains private," the Outlook team wrote on its official blog Thursday.
The new tool encrypts communication between Outlook and the Windows Live email, calendar and contacts services.
Outlook Hotmail Connector can be downloaded in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010 on Windows. There is no similar tool for Outlook 2011, the email program included with Office for Mac 2011.
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