On the heels of Edward Snowden’s disclosures, on April 7, the Heartbleed bug came to light as a massive blow to the security of the Internet, and all things connected. Very briefly, preliminary analysis of the bug’s import states that up to two-thirds of the Internet is exposed to this security vulnerability. This moment is an opportunity to initiate audits of corporate computer systems and verify that all relevant security patches have been properly applied. Corporate counsel and chief information security officers must take this opportunity to update their incident response procedures and review their configuration management processes.
As disastrous-sounding as the name “Heartbleed” is, it is actually a very accurate technical description of what this security vulnerability causes.
