World's toughest encryption scheme is 'vulnerable' ...so what about you?

It was announced overnight that cryptography researchers have found a "vulnerability" in the encryption scheme used in the vast majority of secure online transactions - a scheme known as AES-256. Every important electronic transaction you make online is encrypted - your banking, your census form, your credit card payments. AES-256 - the Advanced Encryption Standard - was approved by the US National Institute of Standards in 2002 to be used in all unclassified communications. As well as its almost almost-ubiquitous use in e-commerce, AES-256 is used to secure household WiFi connections, mobile phone connections and a range of other applications.