Tech Titans Throw $3.6M at Preventing New Heartbleed

Competing tech giants don't want to see another Heartbleed, and they're putting their money where their mouth is to ensure that they don't. Some of tech's biggest names—Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Dell, to name a few—are now jointly funding an effort to support essential online projects, Wired reports. OpenSSL, the security software affected by Heartbleed, has just one full-time worker; the new Core Infrastructure Initiative, driven by the Linux Foundation, aims to allow more developers to devote their time to such projects.

The initiative will also fund security and infrastructure tests, Wired notes. Given concerns surrounding Heartbleed, the Linux Foundation "decided to do what we always do: work with the industry to raise money and fund developers directly so they can do what they do best, develop," says a rep. Already, supporters have committed $3.6 million to the effort. The first project to get funding, TechCrunch notes: OpenSSL. (More Google stories.)