There is a lot of talk in the last few days about the Heartbleed Bug. It is a coding error in the OpenSSL protocol that can leave a hole for hackers to steal information. If you want to read all of the technical details, you can visit The Heartbleed Bug Web site.

The Graphics Unleashed Web site does use SSL (secure socket layer) encryption on pages when payments are involved or with other information that should be protected. We do NOT use the OpenSSL library on our site and therefore our site does NOT have this vulnerability.

As with most sites on the Internet, we are connected with many other sites and services. For example, many of you receive our blog posts or newsletter via the FeedBlitz service. We can happily report that FeedBlitz does NOT have this vulnerability either. To date, we are not aware of any service we use on our site that is affected.

This doesn’t mean that you won’t visit sites that are affected. Those sites aren’t bad guys, they just happened to use a programming library with a vulnerability in it. Many sites have already installed a updated version of OpenSSL to resolve the vulnerability. Until it was patched, there was a slim possibility your data could have been at risk. In short, be aware and vigilant, but no need to freak out about this issue.

One thing you should consider is changing your passwords, especially if you often use the same password. For example, you may have your login credentials stored at site A which had the vulnerability. If those credentials were compromised and you used the same login credentials at another site that didn’t have the vulnerability, the bad guys could still login to the site without the vulnerability. I can’t stress enough that you shouldn’t be using the same login credentials at every site. It is extremely important to have unique (and strong) passwords at each site.

I wrote a detailed post entitled Choosing Strong Passwords and Remembering Them Easily last year so I encourage you to read it immediately. It is not hard to create unique and strong passwords. You can also remember them very easily if you use a tool like Roboform. Of all the utilities I use on a daily basis, it is one of my favorites.

Spend a little time investigating sites you visit where your information may have been at risk. Then go change your passwords! If you are ever worried about the password you are using in the Graphics Unleashed Shopping Cart, go to My Account and click the Change Password link in the Account Information section. Just please use a strong password and let Roboform remember it for you!