The latest in a string of recent security breaches (Target, Experian, and Michaels to name a few), the Heartbleed bug has captured nearly every headline during the past week, and likely with good reason.
Seven days ago, a team of security researchers discovered a large vulnerability in the OpenSSL software that is used to encrypt many website on the internet. The vulnerability is a small piece of corrupted code that lives within the Open SSL encryption engine and allows small pieces of personal information (potentially including names, addresses, SSNs, Credit Card info, etc) to be siphened around the encryption protocols. According to lifehacker.com “It is estimated that over 66% of the web uses OpenSSL, so a good portion of the web may be vulnerable.”
For those of you who are unaware of the origins or risks involved in this outbreak, mashable.com has released this video to explain.
Additionally, mashable.com has posted a “Heartbleed Hitlist” that includes up-to-the-minute info on the largest website that may have been breached by this threat including TurboTax, Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, Amazon, and more. Please visit this link or mashable.com to check which of your favorite websites may have been affected.