The NSA and Heartbleed

Earlier this afternoon it appears Bloomberg broke the news that the NSA is said to have known of and exploited the Heartbleed bug for gathering intelligence for years. The NSA denies knowing of Heartbleed before it was made public. As you can imagine, people are talking.

The NSA knew for at least two years about Heartbleed: https://t.co/nZIzoYPK1l

— Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) April 11, 2014

NSA was able to obtain passwords and other basic data by quietly exploiting heartbleed flaw https://t.co/3xtT00FCfK — Jon Passantino (@passantino) April 11, 2014

And, of course, told no one. “@BloombergNews: BREAKING: NSA said to have exploited Heartbleed for intelligence for years” — Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal) April 11, 2014

Report: NSA used Heartbleed to spy on people for years https://t.co/0CUbpfdSNA pic.twitter.com/lKo9WjX1dk

— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) April 11, 2014

Is it crazy to wonder if NSA somehow engineered Heartbleed to begin with?

— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) April 11, 2014

If this story holds up https://t.co/cYibK3bGUz, of NSA knowingly using Heartbleed bug, time for firings and a lot more

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) April 11, 2014

DEVELOPING: #NSA refuses to address accusations of exploiting #Heartbleed https://t.co/AhzOyoIlqa

— RT America (@RT_America) April 11, 2014

So, under the pretense of protecting Americans, the NSA left millions of Americans open to identity theft. No words. https://t.co/4T5KXEcGCr

— Dana Liebelson (@dliebelson) April 11, 2014

As a public service, the NSA found the Heartbleed bug and exploited it for two years without telling the world. https://t.co/Z5I0S2TDap

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) April 11, 2014

Once again, the greatest threat to internet security is the NSA https://t.co/3lwzoMuJA4

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 11, 2014

NSA denies knowing of Heartbleed bug before it was made public. Reports stating otherwise ‘are wrong.’ https://t.co/MYvSbNtZM9

— Dustin Volz (@dnvolz) April 11, 2014

Full NSC statement on Heartbleed pic.twitter.com/yhLvLxb55e

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) April 11, 2014

In the newsroom debating if the NSA knew about Heartbleed bug. Me: "I mean they're not going to lie to the public…. OK, I take that back."

— Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) April 11, 2014