--- title: Heartbleed Bug: NSA Did Not Know About It description: The National Security Agency flatly refuted a report that it was aware about the Heartbleed computer glitch, one of the most significant security flaws in Internet history. "Reports that say otherwise are wrong,” NSA spokesperson Vanee' Vines told TIME canonical: https://time.com/60082/nsa-heartbleed-bug-denial/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-11T21:20:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:07:32.214Z article:section: Politics og:title: Heartbleed Bug: NSA Did Not Know About It og:description: The National Security Agency flatly refuted a report that it was aware about the Heartbleed computer glitch, one of the most significant security flaws in Internet history. "Reports that say otherwise are wrong,” NSA spokesperson Vanee' Vines told TIME og:url: https://time.com/60082/nsa-heartbleed-bug-denial/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt120a171a948f5514/69868a51cd804d934bcca43b/57585409.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: FILE PHOTO NSA Compiles Massive Database Of Private Phone Calls og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Heartbleed Bug: NSA Did Not Know About It twitter:description: The National Security Agency flatly refuted a report that it was aware about the Heartbleed computer glitch, one of the most significant security flaws in Internet history. "Reports that say otherwise are wrong,” NSA spokesperson Vanee' Vines told TIME twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt120a171a948f5514/69868a51cd804d934bcca43b/57585409.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NSA Denies Knowing About Heartbleed Bug  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Apr 11, 2014 9:20 PM UTC  National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Md. National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Md.NSA/Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Apr 11, 2014 9:20 PM UTC The National Security Agency flatly denied Friday a report that it has been aware for years of the [Heartbleed computer glitch](http://time.com/55037/heartbleed-internet-security-encryption-risk/) wreaking havoc on computer security around the world. “NSA was not aware of the recently identified vulnerability in OpenSSL, the so-called Heartbleed vulnerability, until it was made public in a private-sector cybersecurity report. Reports that say otherwise are wrong,” NSA spokesperson Vanee’ Vines told TIME. Earlier Friday, Bloomberg News [published a report](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-11/nsa-said-to-have-used-heartbleed-bug-exposing-consumers.html) citing two anonymous sources alleging that the eavesdropping agency was aware of the Heartbleed glitch for at least two years before it was made public. [Heartbleed](http://time.com/59390/heartbleed-internet-security-routers/) is widely seen as one of the most significant computer security flaws in the history of the Internet and the NSA drew fierce criticism over the allegation that it failed to report the existence of the flaw and instead exploited it for spying ends. “The NSA’s purpose is to protect Americans,” said PATRIOT Act author Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R—Wisc.). “But if media reports are accurate, rather than fixing the Heartbleed bug, the NSA exploited it to gather information, leaving Americans vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Once again, the NSA proved blind to the interests of every day Americans in its single-minded pursuit of information.” The National Security Council also issued a public denial Friday that the NSA had prior knowledge of Heartbleed. “Reports that NSA or any other part of the government were aware of the so-called Heartbleed vulnerability before April 2014 are wrong,” NSC said in a statement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/60082/nsa-heartbleed-bug-denial/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/60082/nsa-heartbleed-bug-denial/"},"headline":"NSA Denies Knowing About Heartbleed Bug","datePublished":"2014-04-11T21:20:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:07:32.214Z","description":"The National Security Agency flatly refuted a report that it was aware about the Heartbleed computer glitch, one of the most significant security flaws in Internet history. \"Reports that say otherwise are wrong,” NSA spokesperson Vanee' Vines told TIME","url":"https://time.com/60082/nsa-heartbleed-bug-denial/","keywords":["Technology","Tech","NSA","National Security Agency","National Security"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt120a171a948f5514/69868a51cd804d934bcca43b/57585409.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt120a171a948f5514/69868a51cd804d934bcca43b/57585409.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FILE PHOTO NSA Compiles Massive Database Of Private Phone Calls","caption":"FILE PHOTO NSA Compiles Massive Database Of Private Phone Calls","creditText":"NSA/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/technology/","name":"Technology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/60082/nsa-heartbleed-bug-denial/","name":"NSA Denies Knowing About Heartbleed Bug"}}]}] ```