Heartbleed pt. 2 – What Does It Mean For Me?

Spiritual Journeys’ and Almine’s websites are safe

In our previous post (Heartbleed pt. 1) we talked about the current security scare on the internet, nicknamed ‘Heartbleed’. In this post we want to discuss what it means to you, how Almine’s sites are secure and what you need to know about your other online purchases. This so that you are informed and can continue to enjoy Almine’s sites, knowing they are secure.

Why make two posts about this?
Other ‘paying online security issues’ have come and gone in the tech world without anyone in the public eye being any wiser about it. However, this particular ‘Heartbleed’ issue seems to become a hype very quickly. Apart from looking at the larger metaphysical issue of treachery (which Almine undoubtedly will comment upon soon), we want to inform you and be transparent so that no unneeded doubts arise. Even though it is a very technical issue, we’ll try to explain the situation as clearly as possible. That’s where the two posts come in. Part one is meant for more technical background. This second post is more geared towards what this all means to you. So with all of that said, let’s dive right in.

Are Almine’s sites safe?
Yes. Almine’s sites are safe. The technology that contained the security flaw is called OpenSSL. This technology is used for securing sensitive data such as payment information. Spiritual Journeys does NOT use OpenSSL for your payment data. We use a totally different and unaffected type of encryption (issued by GeoTrust). Even if hackers could potentially break into Almine’s sites, they couldn’t ‘crack the code’ to your payment data, because we use another technology altogether. On a related note, internet security is something that we work on constantly on Almine’s sites and not just when a story like this breaks.

Almine’s sites
Here’s an overview of Almine’s sites you might be concerned about. We’ve personally gone in and checked everything. Here’s our conclusion:

• Spiritual Journeys and Spiritual Journeys store – Was and is safe
• Spiritual Mastery online mystery school – Was and is safe
• Ascension.net – Doesn’t have payment options. Was and is safe
• I Am Presence – Was and is safe
• Fragrance Alchemy – Was and is safe.
• Paintings of Light – Was and is safe.
• Calendar of Oneness – Was and is safe.
• Almine Diary – Doesn’t have payment options. Was and is safe

If however you still have doubts, contact us via [email protected] for offline payment processing.

I got a security certificate message for I Am Presence a few weeks ago.  Should I be worried?
This is a different technical issue that was triggered for some browsers a few weeks back when we updated the servers for you behind the scenes to work better, faster and even more secure. It is not related to the heartbleed issue. Your details are safe with Spiritual Journeys.

Have any general tips?
Employing common sense when dealing with online payments was and is the best course of action. This means the following. All major internet payment options are in the process of updating or have already been updated to plug the security hole. Think Amazon, Google, etc. So in the future this is no longer a problem. If you suspect however that something has gone wrong in the past, check your bank account to see if there any anomalous payments. Change your online passwords regularly and choose a secure password. This should be done at least once every 6 months and do not use the same password for all your login sites.

Even though this is a tech based post, we still are a community inspired to live a spiritually aware life. As such, after our common sense internet suggestions above, we would like to invite you to take a look at the theme of treachery in your own life.

~ Rogier, Serge and Niels – Almine’s tech team