McAfee's free tool allows you to check a site for Heartbleed vulnerability

McAfee has released a new tool called Heartbleed Checker for users to measure the vulnerability of a website to the Heartbleed bug. The users only need to enter the name of the website and the tool will show whether the site has been affected by the bug.   The damage caused by the “ **Heartbleed** ” bug is currently unknown, despite its discovery, and it is said to have affected over two-thirds of the Internet. The security hole exists on a vast number of the Internet’s Web servers and went undetected for more than two years. While it’s possible that the flaw was never discovered by hackers, it’s nearly impossible to tell whether it has fallen in the wrong hands.   The bug has affected the most commonly used encryption technology SSL/TLS. Once the sites affected by the bug have said to have applied the patch which fixes the loophole, users can do very little to thwart the attack. They could adopt certain protections measures such as having strong passwords on sites which have announced installation of the fix.   Heartbleed creates an opening in SSL/TLS, an encryption technology marked by the small, closed padlock and “https:” on Web browsers to show that traffic is secure. The flaw makes it possible to snoop on Internet traffic even if the padlock is closed. This same encryption is used by majority of the sites on the internet which means the information passing through hundreds of thousands of websites could be vulnerable.   Beside emails and chats, OpenSSL is also used to secure virtual private networks, which are used by employees to connect with corporate networks seeking to shield confidential information from prying eyes.