Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Vulnerabilities

Heartbleed Hits 1.5 Million Users of UK Parenting Website

LONDON – British parenting website Mumsnet is the latest organization to have been hacked due to the “Heartbleed” bug, founder Justine Roberts revealed on Monday.

LONDON – British parenting website Mumsnet is the latest organization to have been hacked due to the “Heartbleed” bug, founder Justine Roberts revealed on Monday.

“Last week we became aware of the Heartbleed bug and immediately applied a fix to close the OpenSSL security hole,” she said in a statement.

“However, it became apparent that users’ data submitted via our login page had been accessed prior to our applying this fix.”

All 1.5 million registered users were asked to change their passwords, and Roberts did not know how many users had had data stolen.

“The worst case scenario is that the data of every Mumsnet user account was accessed,” she said.

“It is possible that this information could then have been used to log in as you and give access to your posting history, your personal messages and your personal profile, although we should say that we have seen no evidence of anyone’s account being used for anything other than to flag up the security breach.”

The website offers users a forum in which parents can ask for, and pass on, advice about bringing up children.

Officials in Ottawa on Monday announced personal data for as many as 900 Canadian taxpayers had been stolen after being made vulnerable by the bug.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

The recently-discovered flaw in online-data scrambling software OpenSSL allows hackers to eavesdrop on online communications, steal data, impersonate websites and unlock encrypted data.

Computer security specialists, website masters and others became aware last week of problems posed by the “Heartbleed” bug after several reports of hacking.

RelatedHeartbleed Exposes Web Server’s Private SSL Keys 

RelatedWhy The Heartbleed Vulnerability Matters and What To Do About It  

Written By

AFP 2023

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Understand how to go beyond effectively communicating new security strategies and recommendations.

Register

Join us for an in depth exploration of the critical nature of software and vendor supply chain security issues with a focus on understanding how attacks against identity infrastructure come with major cascading effects.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Vulnerabilities

Less than a week after announcing that it would suspended service indefinitely due to a conflict with an (at the time) unnamed security researcher...

Data Breaches

OpenAI has confirmed a ChatGPT data breach on the same day a security firm reported seeing the use of a component affected by an...

IoT Security

A group of seven security researchers have discovered numerous vulnerabilities in vehicles from 16 car makers, including bugs that allowed them to control car...

Vulnerabilities

A researcher at IOActive discovered that home security systems from SimpliSafe are plagued by a vulnerability that allows tech savvy burglars to remotely disable...

Risk Management

The supply chain threat is directly linked to attack surface management, but the supply chain must be known and understood before it can be...

Cybercrime

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft calls attention to a series of zero-day remote code execution attacks hitting its Office productivity suite.

Vulnerabilities

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft warns vulnerability (CVE-2023-23397) could lead to exploitation before an email is viewed in the Preview Pane.

Vulnerabilities

The latest Chrome update brings patches for eight vulnerabilities, including seven reported by external researchers.