BANGALORE:  Millions of passwords, credit card information and lots of other personal information were apparently leaked due to a major flaw in the Internet security. An unknown bug called ‘Heartbleed’ created a security hole on a number of Internet servers leaving it untraced for more than 2 years. Even though the bug was present for this long, it is really hard to predict if hackers have noticed it. There isn’t much internet users can do to protect themselves until the affected websites make a fix for it, reports Times of India.

Heartbleed affects the encryption technology which protects the online accounts for emails, instant messaging and e-commerce websites. It was discovered by a Finnish security firm codenomicon in association with Google researchers.

The problem had affected Open SSL, an internet security encryption which is one of the most common security implementation. The Bug had created an opening in the encryption exposing the whole ecosystem to potential threats. The issue is of great seriousness as two third of the web servers rely on it to pass information down to thousands of websites. The open SSL also offers encryptions to private networks which are used by employees to connect with corporate networks.

According to the Star.com tech news, yahoo said that they had fixed the issue on its main online properties including the Tumblr, while Google, Facebook and Amazon have taken measures to secure their websites.

A cyber security report said that all the possibly vulnerable sites need to upgrade to a certified and secured version of the open SSL. The report also advised to replace the current certification if any.

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