Google researchers revealed a major flaw in the SSL encryption protocol—SSLv3 to be precise—which has been affectionately named “POODLE.” The vulnerability is more serious than the silly name might suggest, and the news has garnered a lot of attention because of the potentially broad implications. But security experts assure us the sky is not falling.

What Is POODLE?

POODLE is actually an acronym for “Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption.” SSLv3 is rarely used today, but most Web browsers will negotiate a compatible encryption protocol when connecting to a site or server, and are capable of downgrading to SSLv3 if necessary. The POODLE attack relies in part on forcing the target browser to fall back to the legacy protocol, which has inherent weaknesses that can be exploited to allow the attacker to access the encrypted information.

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