With the recent security flaw in OpenSSL, now dubbed the Heartbleed bug, every major website is alerting you the change your passwords. Just this morning alone, I'm sure that most of you will have to go about and I advise that you do so now, change your Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Tumblr, GoDaddy, Dropbox and Soundcloud passwords just to name a few. Do it now and make sure that no two are alike! Lucky for me, I use AgileBits's 1Password which, by the way, is now multiple platform, so generating that 8-16 or even 24 character password is automatic. If you haven't read the various sites that are listing the vulnerable web services, I suggest your head over to either here, here or the master list and start working!

3 things you can do to protect yourself Wait for an official announcement from any secure website or service that you normally use regarding a security update.

After you've confirmed that the site or service has installed a security update, change your passwords.

For at least the next week, keep an eye on any of your sensitive online accounts (banking, webmail) for suspicious activity.

In the meantime, while websites are installing the latest version of OpenSSL to fix the bug, it would be a good idea to wait for confirmed updates on your favorite websites and services and then change your password, just to be as safe as possible.

The amazing password generator and vault program by Agilebits, 1Password, received an update to version 4 this morning! It's offered on the Mac App Store and if you bought it in 2013, you're also entitled to the free awesome update! It's a huge ~~upgrade~~ redesign to the already award-winning password software and if you've been missing out, get it while it's 20% off! You might have heard me saying that 2013 has been dubbed as the year of the password hackers so this is the best way to generate that 16 character-symbol-number-ascii password that you can't remember and store it now!

What’s new?

Everything. Yes, really. From an entirely new interface to the return of Wi-Fi Sync for those who don’t want their data in the cloud, 1Password 4 for Mac has over 90 new features that allow “security” and “convenience” to coexist in the same sentence without tearing a rift in the space-time continuum. Check out the highlights:

Completely redesigned interface - crafted by Dan V Peterson with Mavericks and simplicity in mind

Multiple and Shared Vaults - create separate vaults to share with business or family members that each get their own sync preferences and locations (take 1Password > New Demo Vault for a quick spin!)

1Password mini - a full-featured menubar utility with vault search, item details, vault switching, window anchor options, and more

All-new extension with Opera support - the front-end for our JavaScript extension and 1Password mini is now built on Cocoa, giving you a unified experience across every browser

Shared Items - if sharing an entire vault is overkill, you can share individual items (Logins, Secure Notes, memberships) with another person via email or obfuscated iMessage, just like iOS! If your recipient makes changes and shares the item back to you, 1Password will update your existing item

256-bit Authenticated Encryption, PBKDF2 with HMAC-SHA512, and other major security enhancement - 1Password not only keeps your data private, but also tamper-proof. This forestalls many attacks that haven’t even been dreamt of yet

Wi-Fi Sync is back - many of our customers asked for a way to sync with 1Password 4 for iPhone and iPad but keep their data out of The Cloud, and we delivered

iCloud sync - naturally

Favorites - also just like iOS, quick access to your most important and frequently used items

Third-party App Integration - You can choose to enable support for Alfred, LaunchBar, and Quicksilver, allowing you to quickly search and open Logins from the Mac’s great productivity utilities

Check out our brand new Mac site to see all the ways 1Password can make staying secure more convenient. Grab 1Password 4 in the Mac App Store today, and here on our website soon!

It's great that they have been able to take advantage of iCloud sync too. Way to go Agilebits!

via Agilebits

PSA: Change and Secure ALL Your Passwords NOW

1Password Updated to v4... on sale too!