Heartbleed: Protect Your Data

heartbleedIf you typically ignore computer bug warnings and alerts this is one you should take seriously. It is called the Heartbleed bug and it is a hole in the secure connection between your computer and internet servers that you often query for information. Prior to the bug detection experts estimated that it affected more than 66% of secure connections over the internet (connections between your computer and urls beginning with https://). These sites include many banking and merchant websites as indicated in this NBC news report below.

So what do you need to do?

  1. Check all secure websites (https://) to see if your connection will be vulnerable to the Heartbleed bug. Many websites with secure servers will post a message indicating that they are not or no longer vulnerable. If you cannot find that information, you may use this site to check.
  2. Once you have verified that your connection will not be vulnerable, change your password. If the connection is not secure, do not use it until it is secure.