Heartbleed and gaming: How the Internet’s worst security flaw affects you

Please read our List of Android, iOS, and Windows apps affected by the Heartbleed OpenSSL bug. It will explain more about the Heartbleed bug. We also have a robust list of Websites Affected by Heartbleed and a guide to protecting your smartphone or tablet from Heartbleed.

Heartbleed is bad news, folks. The short version is: it’s the worst, most widespread security flaw that the Internet has ever seen. Many of the online services that we use every day rely on OpenSSL, an open-source encryption protocol that scrambles data as it’s being transmitted so that hackers can’t obtain the raw information. The actual mechanics of Heartbleed get a little technical (read about it here), but the basic idea here is that just about every online service you interact with was or is still affected.

Now that the flaw’s been identified, steps are being taken by online service providers to plug the hole. Still, your sensitive data – including passwords – may have been compromised. Heartbleed was an undetected security issue for more than two years. Before you start changing your passwords, you’re going to want to know if the online service in question was affected and, more importantly, if it’s been fixed yet. You’re still vulnerable if you change your password before the fix is implemented. 

We’ve compiled a list here of notable online gaming services that have and haven’t been affected. Think of it as your guide to fixing any damage Heartbleed has caused in the realm of gaming. This is a fluid situation, but we’ll keep this list as updated as we can. When an official statement from potentially affected companies isn’t available, we’ve been using this very helpful URL checker. If there are any other sites you’d like us to check and reach out for official comment on, let us know at the bottom of this post.