Turns out that for over two years now the Heartbleed bug has been able to get onto our secured encrypted webpages while we are accessing them. The Heartbleed bug uses the feature computers use to show they are online with a secured webpage. They mimic your connection with your information and can steal your usernames, password, account information and more. This means that you could be giving it to a phony website or the hacker continues to transfer information from your accounts and leaving no trace of it.
Is this a new extreme for security breaches on the internet? Or is this something we all could’ve seen coming. Just recently Apple had a breach in their encrypted webpages for Apple users and came up with a “quick” fix. Granted they didn’t reveal the issue until they had a cure. It seems that as soon as one bug is fixed another one is made, much like the flu.
Growing up we are told that we are not safe on the internet, but that doesn’t seem to be enough to stop us though. Our lives are practically ran by the internet with no worries. Is it the norm now that at any moment our identity could be stolen? There are so many threats out there that we just learn to live with it.
Some tips for helping yourself against the Heartbleed bug:
– Log out of all web sites.
-Change your passwords ASAP.
Web sites are working to fix the issue for their own sites. You can only wait so long for someone else to fix a problem that may not actually be fixed. It’s best to keep an eye out on your personal information and to protect yourself as much as you can.