Study: Majority of Americans did not change passwords amid Heartbleed bug

Businesses and government agencies are still working to contain the immense Heartbleed computer bug, an OpenSSL security flaw that infected computers all over the world. Despite most technology experts and computer firms urging people to change their passwords, there are still a large number of individuals who have yet to do so.

A new study by the Pew Research Center discovered that only 39 percent of Americans actually took the necessary steps to protect their online accounts by changing their passwords. This means that a majority (61 percent) actually refrained from taking protective measures after learning about the Heartbleed bug.

It wasn’t due to a case of not knowing about it. According to the report, an overwhelming majority (60 percent) had heard at least a little bit about Heartbleed – the institute noted that those with education and money were likelier to hear about it than those who are non-educated and poorer.

heartbleedHowever, the study did find that there was less awareness to the bug than other major news stories, such as the Ukraine crisis and Edward Snowden leaking classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents last year.

Despite the words of caution iterated from web developers, security experts and tech outlets, a significant number of the Internet audience ignored the warnings and remained indifferent to the worldwide security breach.

The study even found that only six percent believed their personal data was violated, while more than one-quarter (29 percent) of Internet users felt that their personal information was put at risk of being attained because of the Heartbleed.

When it comes to securing their personal information, most people believe it’s safe: 23 percent said their personal data is “very secure” and 46 percent said “somewhat secure.” Meanwhile, more than one-quarter (26 percent) aren’t convinced that their information is secure.

“I think it’s a pretty striking number,” said Lee Rainie, the center’s director, in a statement issued to the Washington Post.  “And, to me, even more impressively, it’s 61% of the Internet users who had heard of Heartbleed who changed passwords or deleted accounts. In other words, the majority of Internet users who had heard of the problem took a pretty significant step to address it.”

The telephone survey was conducted with 1,501 adults between Apr. 23 and 27. It contains a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Heartbleed News

Although the Heartbleed bug is still inflicting pain on websites all over the world, reports say that public Wi-Fi remains secure. A majority of Wi-Fi devices have been designed by Cisco and Ruckus Wireless and both companies say they did not experience any flaws in their security because of Heartbleed.

In addition, small businesses using D-Link, Netgear and Linksys are safe. A lot of retailers, airports and hotels that use wireless routers, including Starbucks, Hyatt and Denver International, have confirmed that they were not affected.

Most experts say that in order to maintain a safe connection, all computer users should change their passwords regularly, refrain from visiting strange websites and use a Heartbleed checker to confirm if a website is still vulnerable to to the bug. Other advanced tips would be to install a firewall, disable Adobe Flash, apply all software updates and use Internet Explorer’s Enhanced Protected Mode (if applicable).