In case you haven’t heard there is a gross new virus that has hit the net called Heartbleed. The bug effects a widely used security system called OpenSSL that encrypts data sent over the Internet.
A security team at Google found the bug in a version of OpenSSL that lets hackers come in and steal information under the systems security layer. Essentially this means that hackers can use leaked encryption keys to decrypt your data. Scary part is this virus was undetected for two years, so hackers could have gathered usernames and passwords without being noticed.
Monday a patch update was released to fix the bug, but now more than half a million widely used websites need to update. Some of the popular websites affected include:
Tumblr
Google/Gmail
Yahoo!
GoDaddy
Intuit
Dropbox
Minecraft
OkCupid
SoundCloud
JDate
Christian Mingle
Wunderlist
It is suggested that you take some time to change all your password on high security websites just to keep your information safe. However, it could be all for not if the website itself has not updated its security. Luckily you can check and see if the website is ok to use by visiting the Heartbleed test here.
Meanwhile Apple released a statement to Re/Code confirming that iOS, OS X and “key web services” were unaffected by the Heartbleed bug.
“Apple takes security very seriously. iOS and OS X never incorporated the vulnerable software and key web-based services were not affected,” an Apple spokesperson told Re/code.
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