Computer Security Web Browsers Suffer from Reduced Performance Due to...

Web Browsers Suffer from Reduced Performance Due to Heartbleed Fixes

heartbleed fix slowing browsersThe now-famous Heartbleed Internet security flaw has perpetuated into an epidemic among everyone who uses a computer to connect to the Internet around the world. In the most recent findings of Heartbleed, security researchers and experts have uncovered ways to combat the nasty flaw but in doing so web browsers are suffering a major blow as Heartbleed fixes are slowing the performance of web browser applications.

Heartbleed is an Internet security flaw that has disrupted many security certificates that sites utilize for logging into SSL (OpenSSL/TLS - a security layer for many websites) secure pages, mostly for when users perform logins into accounts on a particular website. Over the course of the past few weeks, webmasters and those in charge of security of many large and small websites have scrambled to come up with the proper means of combating Heartbleed and protecting the end-user from their account succumbing to this flagrant flaw.

Unfortunately, in the process of rolling out fixes and patches to secure sites from Heartbleed, it has caused many web browsers to become overloaded by the overhaul of security certificates. What is happening, mostly due to a restructure of security certificates on websites to evade Heartbleed, is an error message is being loaded causing a serious impact on web browser performance.

The new patches that many sites have implemented as an answer to Heartbleed have enabled the webmasters to obtain new security certificates to communicate that the sites are trusted by web browsers and protected against Heartbleed. The problem with this is that the web browsers are then required to trust a new key. On a normal day, web browsers will update dozens of keys but due to Heartbleed, some case studies show where browsers are updating as many as tens of thousands each day.

The prolonged update and verification process that web browsers are being taxed to go through due to new security certificates on sites that have taken the liberty to be proactive and protect themselves from Heartbleed has caused an unwanted aftereffect.

Another aspect of Heartbleed fixes that has the potential to cause issues is on the mobile side. The same sites that have updated their security certificates in efforts to defeat Heartbleed may have left the mobile version of their site vulnerable. Security specialists have said that mobile phones are vulnerable to Heartbleed in two ways, through the apps that access servers affected by Heartbleed and through access of sites via SSL certificates on a web browser app.

Many companies, including Google, have urged developers to create new security keys to help ensure their services can be trusted. The main issue lies within each specific developer's hands. If they fail to update a particular mobile app or a site, Heartbleed could cause serious damages over their misjudgment or lack of competency. Just like many fixes for Heartbleed on websites have caused performance issues on web browsers, other problems may arise as Heartbleed is marked as being one of the worst internet bugs in history.

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