“Heartbleed” Wounds 500 Servers
The latest serious Internet threat named ‘Heartbleed’ has hit over 500 servers, all using OpenSSL web encryption tech. The chief research officer, Mikko Hypponen, at software security maker F-Secure located in Helsinki, Finland, says users can do virtually nothing about it. Instead, server administrators must fix the problem that spreads through cookies. So anyone who has used Yahoo over the past several days, for example, has probably had their passwords and perhaps their credit card and banking information, scrapped into the coffers of some hacks in cyber space. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/09/us-cybersecurity-internet-bug-idUSBREA3804U20140409
What should you do? According to CNET security experts, several steps are required to ensure password and financial security, in light of Heartbleed attacks worldwide. First, don’t log in to any service that has been attacked. http://www.cnet.com/news/how-to-protect-yourself-from-the-heartbleed-bug/
HFS analysts ask: So, who or what has been attacked? HFS answer: No one really knows for sure, although some services like Yahoo admit they were infested and have taken steps to fix the problem. Yahoo apparently is still fixing things, so log in today might need to be reconsidered. But how about all those other services? Google insists it was ahead of the Heartbleed problem from the start. Along with Facebook and Twitter. Do you believe them?
Other steps can be taken once the server of your email or social net has made some changes known mostly by IT administrators. For example, create new passwords for important accounts like banks and highly used email. Also, when unsure of what precautions your local IT administrator might have take, make inquiries through their customer complaint process. http://www.businessinsider.com/heartbleed-bug-explainer-2014-4
Maybe Heartbleed will be put down soon enough. HFS wonders about the larger issue: Can Internet activity ever be truly safe? Should all of us rethink the worldwide dependency on digital reality? Is the primitive lifestyle returning for more than a few? What do you think?
