Security experts have urged internet users not to panic and instantly change their passwords in wake of the Heartbleed bug security flaw, despite suggestions to do so from prominent sites like Tumblr.
Hugh Boyes, cyber security lead at the UK-based Institution of Engineering and Technology said: "Change your passwords — but only after the affected website operators and internet service providers have implemented the patch to fix the bug.
"Changing your password before the bug is fixed could compromise your new password."
The popular blogging website Tumblr, which is owned by Yahoo!, had previously urged its users to change all their passwords, especially those protecting sensitive data like email and bank accounts, immediately.
Independent security expert Bruce Schneier has also called for calm, but emphasised the seriousness of the web security breach.
"'Catastrophic' is the right word. On the scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11."
The Heartbleed bug was discovered on Monday by a team of security experts, including one from Google, having gone undetected for more than two years.
The bug bypasses the encryption that normally protects data as it is sent between computers and servers, leaving personal and sensitive data vulnerable. It is commonly recognised as the closed padlock that appears in the corner of the web browser to show your connection is secure.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article