The Lowdown on "HeartBleed"

You may have read the latest headlines on a huge internet security security hole called "HeartBleed".  It is a bug recently discovered in the software used by many websites to permit and protect secure transactions.  You notice the software is being used when you see an icon resembling a padlock in the address field of your internet browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, etc.).

There is a very good "Dick and Jane" article on this bug in the New Yorker Magazine online edition. 

There is not much any of us can do to protect ourselves from this.  In fact, no one can tell how long knowledge of this bug has been in the hands of the bad guys out there.  The more reputable sites will have already corrected this error within the next week or so, but it will be difficult to tell how many or how well.

The bug does NOT affect RAFINO.ORG.