Regulators tell US Banks to plug 'Heartbleed' vulnerability

Banks and financial institutions recently received a memo urging them to fix the security hole that is exploited by "Heartbleed," and they should consider upgrading encryption software and changing passwords, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

"Attackers could potentially impersonate bank services or users, steal login credentials, access sensitive email, or gain access to internal networks," the memo states.

Amazon, Yahoo, Netflix, and other major websites were quick to fix security holes, and users can change passwords on those sites.

Security experts warn users to wait for websites to patch the Heartbleed bug, but don't over panic and do research before rolling out new security. Meanwhile, banks are under constant pressure to keep members secure, with customers and bank technology facing frequent cybersecurity threats.