Heartbleed Bug

[Rosaboobie]

This was on our UK tv yesterday - Should we be concerned about this or is it just scare-mongering?

http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartble ... hxcXNwcSJ9

[draclvr]

No, it's not scare-mongering - this one is very real. It's not a virus or a bug, but a coding flaw in the security layer that provides encryption at websites. But keep in mind this coding flaw has been around for 2 years now. The way to deal with it is NOT to run out and change all your passwords. If a website hasn't addressed the issue, then you are just making THAT password vulnerable. There is a way to enter the url of a website to check it's status. If it's made the required changes, THEN change your password.

Heartbleed Test

At the very least you should change passwords to your banking and credit card institutions.

I'm not a big fan of Steven J. Vaugan-Nichols, but his blog today at ZDNet is very informative.

How to Protect Yourself in Heartbleed's Aftershocks

[Diat60]

According to my newspaper today, banks and financial institutions are not vulnerable to Heartbleed as they use a different type of encryption. Government sites, on the other hand, are vulnerable and the Canadian government has temporarily stopped online filing of income tax returns until they fix their site.

I'm concerned about PayPal, etc. Do they use SSL?

[draclvr]

Enter the PayPal url into that link to check and it should tell you. And from what I've been reading and hearing the last several days is that SOME banks and credit card institutions use a different encryption.

[Diat60]

"All good, www.paypal.com seems fixed or unaffected!" Good news, I try to use PayPal as much as possible.

[draclvr]

That is good news!

[Rosaboobie]

I must check out all my password sites also tomorrow.

[draclvr]

Don't worry about places like MM or Gameboomers - they don't use encryption. Just check places that use secure checkout or your bank or credit cards.... essentially anything that used encryption.

[LadyKestrel]

Amazon is iffy, but the checking site can't say for sure if it's a problem or not. I don't understand their FAQs page completely, so I'm not sure what to do.

[draclvr]

I'm waiting a bit on Amazon too... I would think they of all websites would get this changed ASAP.