Critical crypto bug leaves Linux, hundreds of apps open to eavesdropping

14 Mar 2014 • arstechnica.com

Hundreds of open source packages, including the Red Hat, Ubuntu, and Debian distributions of Linux, are susceptible to attacks that circumvent the most widely used technology to prevent eavesdropping on the Internet, thanks to an extremely critical vulnerability in a widely used cryptographic code library.

The bug in the GnuTLS library makes it trivial for attackers to bypass secure sockets layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protections available on websites that depend on the open source package. Initial estimates included in Internet discussions such as this one indicate that more than 200 different operating systems or applications rely on GnuTLS to implement crucial SSL and TLS operations, but it wouldn't be surprising if the actual number is much higher.

Ok... so OS X, iOS, and now Linux?  I'm not usually a believer in conspiracies, but isn't believing the NSA did it intentionally and maliciously better than believing that we're idiots and did it to ourselves by accident?