You may have heard about the recent internet security flaw know as “Heartbleed”. This encryption flaw means that there are vulnerabilities in many platforms and apps which may have exposed some of your passwords and personal data such as credit card numbers for up to two years. It is important to regularly change passwords and this vulnerability really highlights that we should be diligent in this regard.
We have been made aware that many parents and teens are not aware, or have ignored the warnings around the Heartbleed flaw. We strongly recommend that you read the post and take action to protect your information.
Many of the most popular applications have been affected and some there is uncertainty around others.
This post is to highlight the most common ones and encourage you to review all the computers and devices in your home. Make sure you run all patches or updates to these apps and then change your password (unless otherwise advised).
Use complex passwords which includes upper and lower case characters, numbers and symbols for the best security and don’t use the same password for all programs and apps.
If you use an Apple iphone or Apple computers you are not affected, however some apps you use might be and we do recommend you change passwords as a security measure.
Blackberry are yet to roll out their patch for this flaw.
The following programs and apps have been updated and you should change your passwords now:
PLEASE NOTE: If an app is on the WAIT list do not change passwords until advised as changing password whilst the app is still vulnerable will not protect you.
CHANGE PASSWORDS NOW FOR:
DROPBOX
ETSY
FACEBOOK APPS (anything that uses your Facebook log in such as Spotify, Candy Crush etc)
GOOGLE AND ANDROID – This includes all Google apps such as Gmail, Google Play Store, All Google Accounts
NETFLIX
TUMBLR
FLIKR
WIKIPEDIA
YAHOO APPS AND MAIL
GO DADDY WEB HOSTING
GAMING APPS AND ONLINE GAMING SERVICES
MINECRAFT
SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT
PLAYSTATION STORE
NINTENDO
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
CALL OF DUTY
The official status is WAIT for the following:
SNAPCHAT
WORDPRESS
For those using Android devices, there is a heartbeat security scanner which will alert you if your system is vulnerable. Download it here. (Android phones are non Apple device such as Samsung, HTC, Nexus etc)
We will endeavour to advise of any updates but we do recommend that you remain diligent.
A comprehensive and regularly updated post can also be found at Mashable here
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Sources for information include mashable.com , digitaltrends.com and staysmartonline.gov.au
