Weather Underground PWS protocol

Browsing http://help.wunderground.com/knowledgebase/articles/865575-pws-upload-protocol I noticed that the examples use secure HTTP (https) to upload data.

However, the Weather Underground control panel in WD 10.37S54 shows the last data sent as using http. Is there an option to get WD to use https instead as sending unencrypted passwords isn’t very secure.

its no problem to change to using https (only problem is, it will be slower)
but in 17 years I am yet to see a reported problem caused by the password

Yes, there is an overhead of using https instead of http - security is rarely without cost. Whether the use of https has a significant impact on system performance will depend on the upload rate. At every 5 mins I doubt I would even notice.

Perhaps the use of http/https could be selectable, leaving the user to make the call between performance & security?

Maybe I’m missing something but I really don’t see the value of a wunderground password to anyone :?

OK, care to post your’s here?

That’s a whole different thing from worrying about the small chance of some man in the middle attack intercepting it because it’s an http connection.

yes I can make it selectable (I had already put the code in place)
I agree with Niko about this though

Given that Brian’s already done the work, why not give people the choice?

I don’t have a problem with that. Just expressing my opinion that there isn’t much justification for it.

I actually forgot that this option is already available (make sure you have a recent version of WD)
i.e tick use https

Brian

I’m using WD 10.37S54. I can see a HTPS checkbox - is that the one?


WU_CP_shot.PNG

Brian

Ticking the HTPS box doesn’t seem to stick in WD 10.37S54. If you set it, close the WU control panel using the Open button and then re-open it then the HTPS box becomes unset.

ah, ops
I will fix /test that and let you know

try http://www.weather-display.com/downloadfiles/weatherdisplaytest.zip

Brian

I’ve run the WD test version for about half an hour with WU updates via HTTPS every 5 minutes - so far, so good. I’ll leave it running overnight and post an update in the morning.

Brian

I’ve checked the table of readings for my station for the period midnight to 8am today (5th Oct) transmitted using WD 10.37S57 via HTTPS at 5 minute intervals; there are 9 missing readings.

I checked the same period for yesterday (4th Oct) when I was running WD 10.37S54 with HTTP at 5 minute intervals; there are 7 readings missing.

I’m not sure what is going on here.

wunderground often has problems/down times
you would need to do your analysis over a longer period of time to get a bigger sample
as pointed out though https means more hoops to jump through which means more things can go wrong, for little gain

Yes,the samples are too small for any firm conclusions (I was pressed for time). I’ll revisit this when I have more time and I’ll look at more periods and longer periods.