BANGALORE: Hacking into private information of major companies has become very easy after the discovery of the Heartbleed bug. The Heartbleed bug is a flaw in the Open SSL cryptographic software, which allows the hacker to steal very sensitive, private information from the user.  Open SSL is software that changes data like passwords into codes so that hackers will not be able to see them. Big companies like Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Dropbox use the Open SSL software. Heartbleed allows the hacker to get information from a web server without leaving a trace. According to Economic Times, Heartbleed allows the hacker to steel 64 kilobytes of information every time he hacks the server and he can keep attacking the server until he gets all the information required.

Within a day after the disclosure of the Heartbleed bug, an attacker used it to hack into an employee’s virtual private network (VNP). According to Mandiant, a security firm, the bug was used about 1000 times, which enabled the hacker to get access private information. The company noticed the attack only in its later stages, and this is also one of the first cases that has confirmed the use of Heartbleed by hackers. Mandiant is unwilling to reveal the company name and termed it as a 'major corporation'. The Canadian police also charged a 19-year-old boy for trying to use Heartbleed to steal taxpayer data from a government website.

Major companies have advised people to change their passwords regularly to protect their personal sites from the Heartbleed bug.  They also recommended the use of different passwords for different sites.

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