Yahoo account data lost in hack

Yahoo! Inc.is preparing to disclose a “massive” data breach of its main service, Recode reported, just as Verizon Communications Inc. prepares to take over the ailing internet company’s core assets. The multinational technology company has confirmed that there was a breach in the security of its Email service and is now asking its users to take safety measures.

Yahoo began investigating a possible breach in July, around the time the tech site Motherboard reported that a hacker who uses the name “Peace” was trying to sell account information belonging to 200 million Yahoo users.

Yahoo adds, “We continue to enhance our systems that detect and prevent unauthorized access to user accounts”. Cybersecurity specialists recommend using a different password for each account you have on the internet. The security breakdown risks magnifying Yahoo’s preexisting problems – specifically, that it is losing users, traffic and the advertising revenue that follows both, to rivals such as Google and Facebook.

Given Yahoo’s near constant decline in users the chances are the majority of the account details accessed in the hack do not relate to now used accounts, but that ultimately is besides the point given that people often use the same password and security questions across multiple sites, meaning the benefit of the data is its potential use for identity theft on other services.

“I wanna be notified”, said Jones, “and given some steps to take actions to protect my security or other things to be tied to it”.

Yahoo announced on Thursday that According to New York Times, 500 million accounts were stolen two years ago.

NBC2 is keeping up with a massive data breach at Yahoo.

These steps include invalidating unencrypted security questions and answers so that they can not be used to access an account and asking potentially affected users to change their passwords. The company said the attacker didn’t get any information about its users’ bank accounts or credit and debit cards.

“Cybercriminals know that consumers use the same passwords across websites and applications, which is why these millions of leaked password credentials are so useful for perpetuating fraud”, said Brett McDowell, executive director of the FIDO Alliance, an organization that vets the security of password alternatives.

The best way of keeping online accounts secure is to use a password manager.

“Enterprises must first assess what hackers would likely want to steal from them”, he said.

Yahoo users NBC2 spoke with say they do not like being left in the dark, Kim Jones included. Change your passwords. Now.

Is there a Yahoo helpline I can call?

According to Yahoo’s Chief Information Security Officer Bob Lord, the information was stolen from the company’s network in late 2014.