The NSA reportedly knew about the Heartbleed bug for 2 years — and exploited it

L. Clarke/CORBIS

The NSA reportedly knew about the Heartbleed bug for 2 years — and exploited it
(Image credit: L. Clarke/CORBIS)

Two anonymous sources tell Bloomberg that the National Security Agency knew about the dangerous Heartbleed bug for at least two years and regularly exploited it to gather intelligence for their own needs.

Heartbleed is one of the biggest internet security flaws of all time, affecting as many as two-thirds of the world's servers and leaving many websites once considered secure open to data breaches by hackers. Researchers discovered the bug earlier this week, which prompted a mass panic and calls for everyone to change their passwords.

The NSA supposedly used the bug to obtain passwords and other data that are the "building blocks of the sophisticated hacking operations at the core of its mission," according to Bloomberg.

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.