Chromebleed Chrome Browser Plugin Will Safeguard You Against Heartbleed Exploit

The discovery of a security vulnerability in OpenSSH, which is a set of programs that provide encrypted communication sessions using the SSH protocol for an estimated two-thirds of the web, challenged the notion that anyone can ever be truly safe on the Internet, regardless of how careful you surf. How so? Researchers discovered a major vulnerability in OpenSSH that could allow hackers to dig up your personal information, including usernames, passwords, credit card data, and much more. It's called Heartbleed, and it has the Internet community on high alert. There's a patch available, which many website admins have applied, but if you want to err on the side of caution, Chromebeed is here to help.

Chromebleed is an extension for Google's Chrome browser. It uses a web service developed by Filippo Valsorda to check the URL of a page you just loaded. If the page is affected by Heartbleed, a Chrome notification will appear and you'll know not to enter any personal information.


It's a simple solution to a pretty serious problem, though be advised that it can create false positives. If you don't trust the result but want to play it safe, we suggest getting in touch with the website owner or site admin to find out if (A) they're aware of Heartbleed and (B) if they've taken care of the situation by patching OpenSSH.

You can download Chromebleed here. Alternately, you can bookmark Filippo Valsorda's Heartbleed Test page to manually check individual websites for the vulnerability. And for those wondering, you're safe to enter your login credentials at HotHardware.