‘Freak’ Security Flaw: Hacking Risk to Apple, Google Users Found

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An old security flaw in website encryption called “Freak” is affecting Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG,NASDAQ:GOOGL) devices.

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Source: Samsung

Freak stands for “Factoring attack on RSA-EXPORT Key”. The security flaw is the result of a policy from that 90’s that required weaker security for people visiting websites from a foreign nation than what US citizens had. This weakened encryption can still be used today in Apple’s Safari for iOS and Mac and Google Android’s default web browser, reports Engadget.

The Freak security flaw has been discovered to work when people access what should be safe websites. Whitehouse.gov is a perfect example of a website that the flaw can exploit. The flaw allows hackers to break an encryption in seven hours with 75 computers. Typically, it would take millions of computers and a full year to break current encryption standards. Apple and Google have both announced fixes for the issue, Engadget notes.

A team of computer scientist from the University of Michigan have created a website that contains all the information that’s needed to understand the Freak attack. The website will also perform an automatic check of a user’s web browser and let them know if it is vulnerable to the security flaw. That website can be found here.

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