First Heartbleed, now Shellshock

Kai Ryssdal Sep 25, 2014
HTML EMBED:
COPY

First Heartbleed, now Shellshock

Kai Ryssdal Sep 25, 2014
HTML EMBED:
COPY

You might remember back in April when thousands of servers were hit with the Heartbleed bug. Well, the Department of Homeland Security warned Thursday against a new bug called Shellshock, which could be far worse.

“Shellshock is a new security hole and this is a way for hackers to get access to our information that we don’t want to give up,” says “Marketplace Tech” host Ben Johnson.

While Heartbleed gave hackers access to a user’s data, Johnson says, the Shellshock bug allows hackers to take total control of a person’s computer.

So, what now? Unfortunately it’s too early to tell.

“There’s not much you can do here except wait for the people who know what they’re doing to build the patches and fix these things on the back end,” Johnson says. “In the meantime, I think you should be extra careful about clicking on links that come from mysterious people on your email, and just ride it out and hope for the best.”

For more on Shellshock, click the audio player above.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.