What is Heartbleed?

Put simply it is a flaw (bug) that allows access, to external ‘parties’, to the Random Access Memory (RAM) of two thirds of all servers (running OpenSSL) on the internet.

This flaw has been happening now for 2 years.

Admittedly, ONLY information in RAM can be accessed, however the concern is that compiling data over a 2 year period allows sufficient time to sufficiently trawl through gathered information.

What You Need To Do

The immediate request made by service providers is that you change your password to most, if not all of your online services.

Nearly all big name services have been affected including Facebook, Google, eBay, Amazon, Dropbox, Yahoo … the list goes on and on.

Edit and Print is managing any exposure and will be performing an upgrade over the weekend.

Also check out  https://lastpass.com/ for ongoing security of your other online services and sites.

Update Your Browser Settings

In addition to internet servers being affected, it is strongly recommended that you change your browser settings to only trust corrected SSL certificates (below is Chrome as it accounts for nearly 60% of all web browsers used)

Want To Know More?

For a deep dive into the details and implications of Heartbleed read more at;

http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-questions-answered/