Canada Shuts Down Online Tax System Over Heartbleed

Just how bad is the Heartbleed exploit? So bad that even the taxman can't handle it, at least in Canada. The Canadian Revenue Agency has cut off access to its online services because of the issue, and says they'll likely remain offline for days, the Toronto Star reports. Officials called the shutdown "preventative," but it's coming at an inconvenient time, as Canada's tax-filing deadline is April 30. The information millions of taxpayers have put into the site make it a particularly juicy target for hackers, one tax expert said.

Huge swaths of the Internet are vulnerable to the exploit, but if you're wondering which passwords you should be changing, Mashable has checked in with some of the most popular services to gauge the risk level. The LA Times also points out that you can use this website to manually check if a given site is Heartbleed-proof. It's important to check, because you shouldn't change your password until a site has patched. James Lyne at Forbes explains why here, while dispelling some myths and hyperbole about the issue (it is not, for example, a "virus").