Heartbleed Bug? Heartbreak.

It affects you.

We know it affects you simply because you’re reading this. If you’re reading this that means you have an Internet connection. If you have an Internet connection, you use precisely what Heartbleed attacks (which is the OpenSSL security protocol used by most of the Internet).

But that is no reason to panic. First off, that is because major web sites such as your bank or your healthcare provider, were likely not affected. Secondly because it is highly unlikely that any of us as individuals will be targeted. What is being targeted are major websites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. What hackers are try to do is to try and trick you into entering your information into a fake site.

The good news

The good news is that all you need to do right now is change your passwords. In fact, you should probably be changing your passwords at least every Spring. Just as you go out with the old, in with the new every year around this time, so should you with your passwords.

For a list of sites affected, Mashable has a nice article containing a nearly full listing of affected sites. There’s also a nice tool out there called “LastPass” which will provide a free scanning tool to let you know if your logins were compromised.

We highly recommend you use either of these two sources listed to make this process easier.

And what about X?

Well funny you should wonder that (even if you weren’t). X is happy to say that even though we’re all in the same boat when it comes to our personal passwords, all Xdesign web sites are rock solid.

X has seen no evidence whatsoever that any of our sites have been compromised by this exploit. You can rest assured that all of your web sites hosted by X are on good, strong footing, and look to be so for the foreseeable future.

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.