Amongst a slew of recently published attacks on the SSL and TLS protocols, some of which have effectively consigned SSL to the dustbin, a new one, labelled as the "FREAK" attack, has exposed the fact that a number of mainstream browsers STILL happily accept and process export-grade RSA keys, even though they might be built to use standard "strong" key exchange protocols.

Much current discussion about this attack points to poorly configured web servers as being the source of evil, but do not be misled! This problem stems from client software that is broken, and which must be patched or replaced. The latest version of Firefox is reportedly safe to use on all platforms, and fixes are in the pipeline for some versions of IE, Safari and Chrome browsers. So, as always, keep an eye out for those fixes and keep your software up to date.