The tech world even now is abuzz with news of Heartbleed – a security bug that some call a “virus” and Microsoft calls “adjudication of open source software.” So, what is the real story?

As usual, most of this is media hype. The real story, of course, is obscured from the real danger. Yes, Heartbleed is, as the word suggests, a slow drip of blood.

However, the reality is that at 64k – not 64 kb, the former is smaller – encrypted security keys can be decrypted and deciphered. The 64 k is the rate at which secured, encrypted data is leaked. To clarify, let’s put this in today’s world.

When you take an iPhone photo, the image size is about 100 to 200mb (megabytes) in size. Sixty-four k is the size of 64, while 2mb is the size of 2,097,152. If we do the math, we see it would take 32,768 attempts to read a transmitted photo taken at the size of 2mb. That is just a photo.

Now, let’s look at an mp3 or song. You might as well double or triple that amount. Maybe it’s a movie or encrypted document. In any case, you are looking at a magnification of 10 to 100 times 32,000 attempts.

Also remember data is sent randomly in sections. It’s not like ripping up a paper and finding the other half. So, when a hacker tries to exploit a message via Heartbleed, he has not control of what gets leaked. He is simply taking the luck of the draw. He may get one letter of your email as well as incoherent gibberish. Imagine this as reassembling a wet, ripped treasure map.

The industry has also updated their SSL security keys. This is why encryption, as mentioned in the previous NSA entry, is so vital. It keeps what you want private. The majority of netizens should therefore practice encryption. It hinders the powers that be, like the NSA and other third parties, from using crowbar techniques to access your secured information – think financial data here.

As an example, I am a LastPass user. This auto generates and saves passwords.  For those that want to hear this from an expert in the field, consider Bruce Schneier and the video below.

You can also read Bruce’s continued updates in this article.

Always remember: don’t get duped by the headlines in articles!