Heartbleed Virus

Virus. Cryptographic software. Eavesdropping. These are the types of words that you would associate with films about spies and elaborate bank heists, not the kind that you hear in everyday conversation.
Why is it then that these words are suddenly the most talked about in America? The answer boils down to one chillingly ambiguous word: Heartbleed.
Heartbleed is a “bug” that was recently discovered in the cryptographic software known as OpenSSL. Now, unless you are a computer science major, it is unlikely you have heard this term before.
Basically, OpenSSL is a type of software that many websites, such as Facebook and Yahoo, use to secure and store user information like passwords and credit card numbers. What Heartbleed did has made this information susceptible to theft from hackers.
As many as 500,000 websites could have been affected, according to Internet research site Netcraft.com. Heartbleed works by exploiting an extension within the software that allows hackers to keep a “secure communication channel open without re-negotiating security protocols over and over again,” according to readwrite.com. This makes it disturbingly easy for hackers to gain access to emails, passwords and other private information.
As soon as the vulnerability was discovered, websites that were exposed to the glitch immediately upgraded their software to a new version of OpenSSL and encouraged users to change their passwords as soon as possible.
However, the terrifying reality is that, at this point, it is almost impossible for users to tell if they had any of their information stolen.
Coming just a few months after the Target credit card breach, this development has understandably left many Internet users in a frenzy. Questions concerning safety and privacy issues have been thrown around right and left, with many Internet users accusing the NSA of exploiting this software to spy on people. Of course, as of right now, that is all just pure speculation.
Right now the best option that people have is to stay alert. Verify that the websites you are using have the latest version of OpenSSL, change your passwords where necessary and keep a close look at your bank statements for any sign of fraud.
The way we use the Internet is continuously evolving, and social media is like a phantom limb in society.
Return to your social media with caution;  first change your password and then we’ll let you take a selfie.