Security researchers at the Black Hat conference unveiled some serious flaws in software that uses the SSL encryption protocol, reports PCWorld.

One researcher calling himself Moxie Marlinspike demonstrated a way of intercepting SSL traffic using what he calls a null-termination certificate. He claims his man-in-the-middle attack is undetectable. According to Marlinspike, the diabolical thing about his tool that intercepts the Firefox auto update requests is that even the update mechanisms cannot be trusted, notes CNET News.

In addition, researchers Dan Kaminsky and Len Sassaman say that they found that a large number of Web programs use certificates issued with an obsolete cryptographic technology, called MD2, that has long been considered insecure. While MD2 has not actually been cracked, it could be broken by a determined attacker.