[msb-alumni] 'Heartbleed' security flaw went undetected for more than 2 years, passwords vulnerable
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <the-facts-machine@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2014 19:09:23 -0400
BlankI know Kim Komando recommends changing passwords immediately. But,
what I've reade says until vulnerable websites update their security, a new
password can be grabbed. The only safe thing if you change your PW is to
have a different PW for each website.
Steve
'Heartbleed' security flaw went undetected for more than 2 years, passwords
vulnerable By Michael Liedtke and Anick Jesdanun Associated Press
An alarming lapse in Internet security has exposed millions of passwords,
credit card numbers and other sensitive bits of information to potential
theft by computer hackers who may have been secretly exploiting the problem
before its discovery. The breakdown revealed this week affects the
encryption technology that is supposed to protect online accounts for
emails, instant messaging and a wide range of electronic commerce. Security
researchers who uncovered the threat, known as "Heartbleed," are
particularly worried about the breach because it went undetected for more
than two years. Although there is now a way to close the security hole,
there are still plenty of reasons to be concerned, said David Chartier, CEO
of Codenomicon. A small team from the Finnish security firm diagnosed
Heartbleed while working independently from another Google Inc. researcher
who also discovered the threat. "I don't think anyone that had been using
this technology is in a position to definitively say they weren't
compromised," Chartier said. Chartier and other computer security experts
are advising people to consider changing all their online passwords. "I
would change every password everywhere because it's possible something was
sniffed out," said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer for Qualys, a
maker of security-analysis software. "You don't know because an attack
wouldn't have left a distinct footprint. But changing the passwords won't do
any good, these experts said, until the affected services install the
software released Monday to fix the problem. That puts the onus on the
Internet services affected by Heartbleed to alert their users to the
potential risks and let them know when the Heartbleed fix has been installed
so they can change their passwords. "This is going to be difficult for the
average guy in the streets to understand, because it's hard to know who has
done what and what is safe," Chartier said. Yahoo Inc., which boasts more
than 800 million users worldwide, is among the Internet services that could
be potentially hurt by Heartbleed. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company said most
of its most popular services - including sports, finance and Tumblr - had
been fixed, but work was still being done on other products that it didn't
identify in a statement Tuesday. "We're focused on providing the most secure
experience possible for our users worldwide and are continuously working to
protect our users' data," Yahoo said. Heartbleed creates an opening in
SSL/TLS, an encryption technology marked by the small, closed padlock and
"https:" on Web browsers to signify that traffic is secure. The flaw makes
it possible to snoop on Internet traffic even if the padlock had been
closed. Interlopers could also grab the keys for deciphering encrypted data
without the website owners knowing the theft had occurred, according to
security researchers. The problem affects only the variant of SSL/TLS known
as OpenSSL, but that happens to be one of the most common on the Internet.
About two-thirds of Web servers rely on OpenSSL, Chartier said. That means
the information passing through hundreds of thousands of websites could be
vulnerable, despite the protection offered by encryptions. Beside emails and
chats, OpenSSL is also used to secure virtual private networks, which are
used by employees to connect with corporate networks seeking to shield
confidential information from prying eyes. Heartbleed exposed a weakness in
encryption at the same time that major Internet services such as Yahoo,
Google, Microsoft and Facebook are expanding their usage of technology to
reassure the users about the sanctity of their personal data. The additional
security measures are being adopted in response to mounting concerns about
the U.S. government's surveillance of online activities and other
communications. The snooping has been revealed during the past 10 months
through a series of leaked documents from former NSA contractor Edward
Snowden. Despite the worries raised by Heartbleed, Codenomicon said many
large consumer sites aren't likely to be affected because of their
"conservative choice" of equipment and software. "Ironically, smaller and
more progressive services or those who have upgraded to (the) latest and
best encryption will be affected most," the security firm said in a blog
post. Although it may take months for smaller websites to install the
Heartbleed fix, Chartier predicted all the major Internet services will act
quickly to protect their reputations. In a Tuesday post announcing it had
installed the Heartbleed fix, Tumblr offered its users some blunt advice.
"This still means that the little lock icon (HTTPS) we all trusted to keep
our passwords, personal emails, and credit cards safe, was actually making
all that private information accessible to anyone who knew about the
exploit," Tumblr said. "This might be a good day to call in sick and take
some time to change your passwords everywhere - especially your
high-security services like email, file storage, and banking, which may have
been compromised by this bug.
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