If this is the first time you are hearing the phrase “Heartbleed Bug”, pay attention.
Never before has it been more apparent that our clients should have identity theft protection than within the past several months. In addition to the huge data breach in December that exposed 110 million Target customers to fraud, the Heartbleed Bug could make this number look small.
The Heartbleed Bug is a breach in OpenSSL, which is encryption used by some of the largest websites on the internet today such as Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc. The bug has apparently existed for the past two years, meaning that if you are a user of a host of websites that use OpenSSL your data could have been compromised during this time.
What should you do?
Changing your passwords is never a bad idea, however if the sites that you frequent and contain your data have not addressed the data breach then you are still at risk. For a list of sites that have been susceptible during the last two years, visit http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/.
As mentioned, the Heartbleed Bug has been a susceptibility for the past two years meaning that millions could potentially be at risk for identity theft. Once a criminal has this information it can be used at anytime and anywhere in the world.
If the recent Target data breach wasn’t enough, the Heartbleed Bug should make you think twice about protecting your personal information from theft as well as potential liability. If you do not already have identity theft coverage, now is the time to make sure that you and your family are protected. Identity theft is an issue that given today’s technology dependent world will only increase.
Contact our Dagley Insurance agents to find out how you can add Identity Theft Coverage to your policy if you do not have it already.