The Week in Review: Heartbleed Strikes

Last Monday, news broke that sensitive user information stored by most major websites was vulnerable to hackers–and had been for over two years.

Known as Heartbleed, the bug exposed a critical security flaw in a devastating place: a website’s URL. Identified by a small padlock symbol in a browser’s address bar, OpenSSL is open-source software used on more than 66% of active websites. The vulnerability meant that hackers could have exploited passwords, banking information, credit card numbers, even mobile phones in what’s been described as “the worst security hole the Internet’s ever seen.”

As usual, Flipboard mag makers were following every aspect of the story as it unfolded. Here are some of the more interesting takes:

Heartbleed Bug by Terry Leach: A good overview of how the media and technocrats are dealing with the security threat.

NSA by Edward Heyburn: Late in the week, reports surfaced that the National Security Agency may have known about Heartbleed from the very beginning–-and possibly exploited the bug.

Net Security & Privacy by Demetri Tringas: If the government was able to scour private information, the question remains: what could they do with it? To find out, start here.

Privacy by Jase Goldsmith: Online privacy activists are on high alert. With news of governmental surveillance being fairly widespread, here are examples of how the international community is reacting.

SSL by Niranjan Nagarjuna: Here’s a good roundup of articles explaining open-source software like OpenSolaris and other technical matters for the non-coders amongst us.

Have a favorite magazine? Let us know by sending an email to featured@flipboard.com.

~ShonaS is curating “Holiday Road (4/11)”
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