A recent scare across the country has sent the biggest companies in a frenzy.  A new virus has been found and has now been discovered in 66% of the world wide web.  Heartbleed is the name of the security hack.

Heartbleed affects an important security protocol of SSL called OpenSSL.  SSL stands for “Security Sockets Layer;” it’s a security log in that two thirds of all internet businesses use.  If a hacker downloads Heartbleed into a network, the hacker could access all users emails, instant messages, passwords and even business documents.  This is dangerous for teens because now every time you log in to Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, someone might be able to access information from you and from all of your followers and friends.

The scariest part about Heartbleed is that it wasn’t discovered until two years after the program began.  In the span of those two years, black-hat hackers have been able to access it.  Black-hat hackers are experienced hackers; they can go undetected longer and can access more information quicker.

Matthew Prince, CEO of a content delivery network called Cloudflare said, “Heartbleed is so serious — it’s such a bug, bad event — that almost every major service is scrambling to clean up as quickly as possible,” according to the Huffington Post.

Now that the program has been found, most companies have put a patch over it, preventing it from accessing anymore information.

You can test your favorite programs here : http://filippo.io/Heartbleed/

With sites that Heartbleed can still access it is suggested for users to not log in until a patch has been over it.

It is recommended that after the program is patched that all users should change their password for safety reasons.