Today, I got a notification from Lookout Mobile Security app about an announcement made by Yahoo indicating a security breach affecting over one billion Yahoo users. While my first email account I created was with Yahoo, I no longer use their services since Gmail was launched.
That does not mean all other email networks are more secured than Yahoo. It just means, any sensitive and personal data are primary targets for hackers. As long as you’re connected to the world wide web, your digital information are at risk of being hacked – whether the digital information or files are stored locally on your computing device or on a remote server.
According to Lookout Mobile Security, Yahoo! has just announced that after investigation by forensic experts, they believe an unauthorized third party stole data of over one billion Yahoo! user accounts in August 2013. This is the second breach announced by Yahoo! in 2016
Yahoo! has announced a breach of over 1 billion user accounts from August 2013 that is believed to be separate and distinct from the reported 500M Yahoo! breached accounts that Yahoo! disclosed in September earlier this year.
The compromised user information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords, and potentially even encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.
The stolen information did not include passwords in clear text, payment card information, or bank account information. Yahoo! has not been able to identify who the third party thief was, but are working on notifying all potentially affected users with steps to secure their accounts immediately.
Next Steps:
Users should change passwords, security questions and answers for any other accounts that used the same or similar information as your Yahoo! account. , Affected users should be wary of any suspicious email activity or requests that seek to gain further personal information. Users should avoid downloading attachments or clicking on links from suspicious email addresses.
For more information and security details, please visit: https://help.yahoo.com/kb/account/SLN27925.html?impressions=true
Breach occurred on 2013-08-01
