Heartbleed: a pervasive security bug

Time to change your passwords!

Heartbleed, a security bug, allows people to steal information normally protected by the SSL/TLS encryption used to keep information on the Internet private. Normally, “https://” at the beginning of a web address indicates that the information that you are entering into that web page will be secure because of this SSL/TLS encryption. However, Heartbleed allows anyone on the Internet to read the memory of systems protected by certain vulnerable versions of SSL/TLS software.

Although many websites have fixed this vulnerability, it’s still better to be safe and change your passwords in case they were compromised. For more information on this, see CNet’s gaggle of posts. You can test to see if a website has fixed this vulnerability by using this online tool.

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