10-Year Old ‘FREAK’ Security Flaw Discovered

In this day and age, security in the digital realm is of utmost importance, especially when you take into consideration the number of hacking incidents that have happened in the past. Whatever security holes discovered ought to be patched up as soon as possible, to say the least. Having said that, it seems that a decade old ‘FREAK’ security flaw has been discovered recently, which means millions of people have been left exposed for the past 10 years.

Both Apple as well as Google happen to be working on fixes for this newly discovered flaw, and the blame was pinned by researchers on an abandoned US policy concerning encryption. Known as “FREAK attack”, users of Apple’s Safari and Google’s Android browsers have been vulnerable to hackers for over a decade.

This flaw meant that users of the browsers were exposed to having their electronic communications intercepted whenever they visited one of the many websites out there, Whitehouse.gov, NSA.gov and FBI.gov included. So far, there has been no evidence that hackers had taken the necessary steps to exploit this vulnerability though, which should come across as a relief for many. Hopefully the corrective measures will be taken immediately – the sooner, the better, am I right?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers
Tags: Hacking, Security