SSL 3.0 is more than 15 years old but is still used by modern web browsers and servers. Google researchers developed an attack called “POODLE,” which stands for Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption. SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer,” which secures most of the data sent over the Internet. The POODLE attack can force a connection to “fallback” to a less secure version of SSL, where it is then possible to steal cookies, which are small data files that enable persistent access to an online service.”]
Source: https://www.computerworld.com/article/2826048/article.html