Hacking in to an email account is easier and faster than you may expect. In fact it takes less than 15 minutes, according to a new study。
A class of volunteers, including a TV producer, a baker and a retiree, were able to learn how to hack into someone's account in less than quarter of an hour。
The small group who had limited technological knowledge, followed an online tutorial using a "man in the middle" technique to hack into a computer network and obtain each other's login details.
The controlled classroom experiment involved the volunteers following a 14-minute tutorial which is freely available online. From this they were able to download hacking software which allowed them to access login details and passwords for email accounts, social networking sites and online shopping accounts within a matter of minutes.
There are over 20,000 videos online teaching users how to hack social media profiles, email, smartphones and PayPal accounts. More than seven million people have had their online password-protected information accessed without their permission。
Almost a fifth of people are aware that online hacking tutorials exist and 87 percent agree that this kind of material should not be available online。