Bitcoin-Qt Upgrade

In case anyone missed the whole Heartbleed vulnerability of the internet that hackers can use to find out private information without leaving a trace, the Bitcoin Foundation addressed the problem. They have released an of the Bitcoin Core Wallet to fix the Heartbleed vulnerability issue.

Bitcoin Core wallet version 0.9.1 has been released to tackle the Heartbleed, or the OpenSSL problem of the internet.

Bitcoin.org :

“Bitcoin Core version 0.9.1 is now available for download This is a maintenance release to fix an urgent security vulnerability (CVE-2014-0160); all users should upgrade.”

Bitcointalk.org :

“A bug in OpenSSL, used by Bitcoin-Qt/Bitcoin Core, could allow your bitcoins to be stolen. Immediately updating Bitcoin Core to 0.9.1 is required in some cases, especially if you’re using 0.9.0.”

What is Heartbleed?

Heartbleed is a two year old internet security flaw that exposed security vulnerability across the internet. Heartbleed actually affects different types of OpenSSL which encrypts and secures internet traffic. OpenSSL protects e-commerce, messages, passwords, virtual private networks (VPNs) and other sensitive information.

Heartbleed is a flaw that directly affects OpenSSL which has caused security admins around the world and digital currency exchanges to review security systems in order to fix the problem. In addition to this, OpenSSL is the most common method used to secure sensitive data across the internet. In fact, over half the internet uses this technology in order to safeguard their data.

An Italian security expert, Filippo Valsorda, built a that allows people to check any website to see if it is affected by Heartbleed.

Speaking about Bitcoin, Valsorda said,

“However almost everything public facing in the Bitcoin ecosystem is secured with TLS and potentially affected.”

As a result of this, digital currency exchanges and services checked to make sure their systems were secure. Popular digital currency exchange, Bitstamp, was initially vulnerable by Heartbleed. However, the exchange took to twitter to announce that it was fixing the problem as soon as it could. Bitstamp has proved reliable in that it has fixed the Heartbleed issue and has reassured its users.

We are happy to announce that the OpenSSL issues have been resolved. All previously disabled functions are once again available.

— Bitstamp (@Bitstamp)

Having an update to the Bitcoin Core Wallet ensures protection against a two year old security threat. This much needed update will give reassurance to Bitcoin users.