Apple: iOS, OS X, and web services unaffected by Heartbleed

Apple says that its services were not affected by the Heartbleed bug.

Netizens woke up to the haunting news of Heartbleed earlier this week. The bug, which is a serious vulnerability in the highly-used OpenSSL implementation, allows hackers to steal sensitive information from websites using the SSL/TLS encryption.

Heartbleed didn’t spare giant technology companies. Google, Facebook, and Yahoo have released official statements this week assuring customers that its security engineers are working double-time to fix the serious flaw, which can be catastrophic, according to security experts.

Apple has also confirmed that its services – web, mobile, and desktop – were not affected by the Heartbleed bug. In a statement to Re/code, the Cupertino-based technology company said that its iOS, OS X, and web-based services are safe.

“Apple takes security very seriously. IOS and OS X never incorporated the vulnerable software and key Web-based services were not affected,” Apple said.

Meanwhile, security experts are advising users to update their passwords, especially on sites that have been affected. Mashable has a nifty list of affected sites. You can check the list here.

To help you manage passwords better, you /4/also use password management services like LastPass and 1Password. It’s better to be safe than sorry.