A newsletter article from talented Macinhomie: Rod Christiansen.
Last week a new word began to pop up on the web that I had never heard before: some scary-sounding thing called Heartbleed. Followed by words such as “warning” and “danger”.
The good news is that your Macs, iPads, iPhones, and iPods (iOS & OS X) are not affected. Your Apple ID for syncing your iCloud information (email, notes, reminders, contacts, etc) is safe.
Here’s the story: for about 2 years a flaw has existed in a piece software that is meant to safe guard communications between a user’s computer and a web service. Many websites like social networks, banks, government, and online retail stores use this. This bug was just found last Monday, and affectionately named Heartbleed.
The internet services that you use might be affected. And therein lies the problem. Each site or service will need to resolve the issue on their end. Once they do, it is strongly recommended that you change your password with them. If you use the same password for multiple sites, you’ll want to change those too.
Here’s a link to test if a website is vulnerable: http://filippo.io/Heartbleed/
Here’s a table of which websites are affected: http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/
Please contact Macinhome if you want help changing passwords. They can help you create a system for password management, so passwords always with you when you need them.
Want a free initial consult with Macinhome? Request a callback.
