SAN DIEGO—Red Apple Media has announced that its network has not been breached by the “Heartbleed” OpenSSL vulnerability and all data remains safe and secure. This serious security weakness affected websites of all sizes and categories, and a comprehensive security audit – completed hours after it was reported – confirmed all Red Apple Media servers were safe from exploit. Now the team is making it easy for industry members – whether or not they are clients – to take the necessary steps to assure their online livelihood is protected.
“It is important to keep our clients safe and their servers updated; it’s part of the exceptional service we offer,” Red Apple Media CEO and co-founder Steven Daris said. “While we know not every company can host with us, we have a team of security and IT experts on staff available to answer any questions about this significant security breach. Just email [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help as best we can.”
The Heartbleed flaw allowed hackers to steal protected information – usernames, passwords, financial information and more – through a weakness in SSL/TLS encryption with no traceable trail. OpenSSL is the backbone of an incredible number of programs and services that allow SSL or TLS based protocols, as well as almost 60 percent or more of websites that offer HTTPS connections. It affected everything from Yahoo.com to RollingStone.com and sent consumers and business owners around the globe scrambling to change passwords and update cryptographic protocols and SSL certificates. The range of breached sites is quite significant, so Red Apple Media offers a simple tool to test any site’s vulnerability.
“In the adult industry, user data protection is key not only for credit card and payment processing but also for discretion and privacy of site members,” Daris said. “The Heartbleed flaw exposed both valuable members’ information, but also that of our very own networks – and if they haven’t already, adopting Fixed SSL and alerting users should be every industry member’s No. 1 priority. Red Apple Media has the tools and team members available 24/7 not only to make this switch fast and easy, but also to maintain top-level data protection for years to come. It’s important to be proactive, rather than reactive, and this Heartbleed bug has reminded us to think ahead and be smarter about our security.”
The bright side of this Heartbleed “disaster” is that the industry now has the motivation and opportunity to give its security a serious upgrade. Personal data may have been exposed, but so has the infrastructure of these cyber criminals’ hacking methods and Red Apple Media now knows exactly how they are making their way into clients’ networks – and how to keep them out.
“A good managed hosting package and a close relationship with your hosting provider will go a long way toward optimizing your security,” Daris said. “Many companies simply aren’t staffed with IT professionals who can handle the broad range of tasks and techniques that are required to provide solid security in-house, so it’s common sense to work with a host that has expertise, man power, and service packages that include the essentials: robust firewalls, software that detects and prevents unauthorized server access, traffic-tracking to detect sudden bandwidth spikes, intrusion attempts, and other indicators of malicious use of your sites. Security can be a daunting subject for business owners, but these security protection challenges can’t be ignored.”
For more information about how Red Apple Media can keep your online livelihood safe and secure, email [email protected] or call (888) 321-6239.
For more information about Red Apple Media, visit redapplemedia.com.
