Details of the Heartbleed bug first entered our sensory world from 7th April. It had its own website and logo, and by the 9th April its own Wikipedia page. It was described as 'catastrophic' by many and the media have been having a field day over it.
Then news broke that one of the first websites affected by the bug (in the UK) was Mumsnet. As a mum, I joined this site several years back when my first child was born. It was kind of useful at the time, but I haven't used it much since, and have been meaning to close my account.
So is this just scaremongering? Is it all just hype as this article suggests?
Should I be worried about any of my online accounts being hacked?
What about all those accounts you hardly ever use - and have forgotten about? And do you remember the outcome of the Millennium Bug?
With a little searching I found a useful round-up of (continually updated) info at http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/
And yes, I guess I should update/delete my Mumsnet account - and maybe a few others.
Remember Lovebug? This was the computer virus that swept through a young and fresh-faced internet in May 2000. Back then we were told it would do to cyberspace what the Black Death had done to Europe in the 14th century. We all got funny emails with “ILOVEYOU” attachments and when we tried to open them our computers exploded. Or rather they didn’t, though you wouldn’t have known that from the hysteria. Then along came MyDoom, Netsky, Witty and Melissa and, now, the deliciously named Heartbleed bug, which the US security expert Bruce Schneier has described as “catastrophic” and which has got the internet in such a tizzy that Heartbleed now has its own website and even a logo. One of the sites affected by Heartbleed was Mumsnet, whose users have been warned to change their passwords.
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