WHAT IS HEARTBLEED BUG AND HOW TO PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL ACCOUNTS FROM THIS BUG

WHAT IS "HEARTBLEED" BUG AND HOW TO PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFO FROM THIS BUG

WHAT IS HEARTBLEED BUG...???

The Heartbleed Bug is a serious obligation in the popular Open SSL cryptographic software library. This weakness allows stealing the information protected, under normal conditions, by the SSL/TLS encryption used to secure the Internet. SSL/TLS provides communication security and privacy over the Internet for applications such as web, email, instant messaging (IM) and some virtual private networks (VPNs).


The Heartbleed bug allows anyone on the Internet to read the memory of the systems protected by the vulnerable versions of the Open SSL software. This compromises the secret keys used to identify the service providers and to encrypt the traffic, the names and passwords of the users and the actual content. This allows attackers to eavesdrop on communications, steal data directly from the services and users and to impersonate services and users.

How bad is that?

Web servers can keep a lot of information in their active memory, including user names, passwords, and even the content that user have uploaded to a service. According to Vox.com's Timothy Lee, even credit card numbers could be pulled out of the data sitting in memory on the servers that power some services.

But worse even than that, the flaw has made it possible for hackers to steal encryption keys, the codes used to turn gibberish encrypted data into readable information.

With encryption keys, hackers can intercept encrypted data moving to and from a site's servers and read it without establishing a secure connection. This means that unless the companies running vulnerable servers change their keys, even future traffic will be susceptible.

Here are three things you can do to reduce the threat:

- Change your passwords - This isn't a full-proof solution. It’ll only help if the website in question has put in place required security patches. You also might want to wait a week and then change them again.

- Worried about the websites you’re surfing? There’s a free add-on for the Firefox browser to check a site’s vulnerability and provide color-codes flags. Green means go and red means stop. You can download it here.

- Check the website of the company that made your home router to see if it has announced any problems. Also be diligent about downloading and installing and software updates you may receive.

Keep updated yourself by watching and reading all the latest news for Heartbleed bug this and be protected from this flaw.If you are also affected by this bug , do share your problems with India Forbes.Your queries will be entertained.