What is the Heartbleed Bug?
The Heartbleed Bug is a newly, discovered vulnerability in OpenSSL, a standard data encryption used by most websites. Although it’s just now being discovered, the bug has been around for two years. In that time, it’s affected close to 76% of all websites on the internet. That’s 600 million websites!
What does the Heartbleed Bug do?
It makes the encryption key vulnerable to attackers. Without leaving a trace, the attacker can then access your personal and business information such as usernames, passwords, emails and even private instant messages.
How can I protect myself?
The vulnerable OpenSSL still poses a security threat, but a fixed OpenSSL has been created which should fix these security issues. “Operating system vendors and distribution, appliance vendors, independent software vendors have to adopt the fix and notify their users,” Codenomicon said. “Service providers and users have to install the fix as it becomes available for the operating systems, networked appliances and software they use.”
For now, avoid pop-up websites that want to “check for vulnerabilities” and change ALL of your passwords.
Assessing your security needs
At the end of the day, your business data needs more than just a router from ISP. Ask your IT advisor to do a security assessment of your network and find out where your vulnerabilities are so you don’t have to learn the hard way.
Contact Phillip Long at 251-923-4027 or fill out the form below!
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Resources: Raven Tools
