Massive Security Flaw Picks The Padlock On Much Of The Internet

By Steve Henn

Published April 8, 2014 at 8:02 PM EDT

A serious bug has been discovered in one of the Internet's most popular encryption programs. The bug, introduced in 2012 and named "Heartbleed," allows an attacker the means to evade security and access credit card numbers or passwords supplied to companies online by users.

Steve Henn

Steve Henn is NPR's technology correspondent based in Menlo Park, California, who is currently on assignment with Planet Money. An award winning journalist, he now covers the intersection of technology and modern life - exploring how digital innovations are changing the way we interact with people we love, the institutions we depend on and the world around us. In 2012 he came frighteningly close to crashing one of the first Tesla sedans ever made. He has taken a ride in a self-driving car, and flown a drone around Stanford's campus with a legal expert on privacy and robotics.

See stories by Steve Henn

Massive Security Flaw Picks The Padlock On Much Of The Internet

You make NHPR possible.