Dorthy, all of your online accounts have been HACKED!
The sad thing about the news media is that, well, you can't rely upon it for any news. All they sell is sensationalism and click-bait, and "Stay tuned for...." teasers.
No real information is provided. You are on your own.
And you are better off just not watching television or listening to the "news" and instead, researching a subject weeks or months later.
Want to know what happened to that missing Malaysian Jet? Wait a few years - that is how long it took them to find a missing Air France jet - and another year to do the report.
In the interim, nothing the "news" has to offer is accurate or useful.
Yesterday, alarming news that all of your online accounts have been hacked by a "Heartbleed" virus or something. "Don't go on the Internet!" we are told, until the problem is solved.
Well, once again, not exactly.
Turns out, it was an exploit (and I wrote about those before) discovered by some security experts. It has been around for at least two years, and there is no documented incident of it being used by a hacker, ever, ever, EVER!
In fact, if a hacker found out about it, it was because of the press release.
So, we are told that this exploit puts all your accounts at risk. Right?
Well, once again, not exactly.
Only a few online accounts might be affected and again there is no evidence that anyone has used this exploit yet.
They finally posted a list of affected accounts today:
Change these passwords now (they were patched)
- Google, YouTube and Gmail
- Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Tumblr, Flickr
- OKCupid
- Wikipedia
Don't worry about these (they don't use the affected software, or ran a different version)
- Amazon
- AOL and Mapquest
- Bank of America
- Capital One bank
- Charles Schwab
- Chase bank
- Citibank
- E*Trade
- Fidelity
- HSBC bank
- Microsoft, Hotmail and Outlook
- PayPal
- PNC bank
- Scottrade
- TD Ameritrade
- U.S. Bank
- Wells Fargo
Don't change these passwords yet (still unclear, no response)
- American Express
- Apple, iCloud and iTunes
Hmmmm...... that means I have to change a password on....... Gmail. That's it. Since I don't use Facebook, AMEX, or Apple, it is not an issue.
It is a shame that the article listing the real deal is buried under a mountain of celebrity news bullshit, while the alarmist articles about how you are going to "lose everything!!!!" online, are prominent.
The news media is utter bullshit.
And sadly, the like boy who cried "Wolf!" we just don't believe anything they have to say anymore, even when it might be relevant and true.
