Tips for yahoo users to secure their account ASAP.
Yahoo finally announced that its server was compromised by hackers in 2013 who gained access to more than 1 billion user accounts.
This is the second-time Yahoo has publicly acknowledged that it has come under hack attempt. Earlier in September, Yahoo had announced that over 500 million accounts had come under data theft.
According to the Yahoo Chief Information officer Bob Lords, the company has no clue of how such quantum of information got breached despite high security.
“We have not been able to identify the intrusion associated with this theft,†Lord wrote in a post announcing the hack.
“The stolen user account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (using MD5) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers,†Lord added.
Laughably, Yahoo, despite being one of the biggest IT companies failed to detect such a massive hack and even after the hackers provided them the proof, it took them close to a month to confirm and give advisory notes to its users.
More than three years after the hack, Yahoo has now advised its users to secure their accounts, including requiring users to change their passwords. Yahoo has also said that it doesn’t believe (seems like not certain) that the details of card payment and the bank account was stored on the server that got hacked.
The revelation will cost high for Yahoo’s future as it may adversely affect the impending $4.83 billion deal with Verizon that agreed to by the web giant of the past. There are also reports that Verizon has already asked for a discount of $1 billion.
Here is what you have to do ASAP if you own a yahoo account.
- Change your passwords and security questions and answers for any other accounts on which you used the same or similar information used for your Yahoo account;
- Review all of your accounts for suspicious activity;
- Be cautious of any unsolicited communications that ask for your personal information or refer you to a web page asking for personal information;
- Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from suspicious emails; and
- Consider using Yahoo Account Key, a simple authentication tool that eliminates the need to use a password on Yahoo altogether.
Security message from Yahoo: