Yahoo Confirms 500 Million Accounts Were Hacked By Hackers

Over a month ago, a hacker was found to be selling login credentials on the Dark Web related to 200 million Yahoo accounts, while Yahoo already confirmed that the breach was much worse than originally assumed. But, now Yahoo! confirms that at least 500 Million accounts were hacked by hackers.

Yahoo Confirms 500 Million Accounts Were Hacked By Hackers

As nowadays we heard much news regarding data breach, hence, this time, the news touched the Yahoo! as it was expected to officially accept the massive data breach that took place last month with more than 200 million of users account exposed. But, in 2014, at least 500 million accounts were stolen.

This is a confirmation which is achieved recently, so, if you have any Yahoo! account, then it is strongly recommended to change your password as soon as possible or if it possible then immediately.

At least 500 million of Yahoo! accounts were hacked in 2014, and as this situation became known only today, the company is already contacting potentially affected users. According to information obtained, the data accessed are part names, emails, phone numbers, date of birth, unencrypted passwords and even security questions. However, Yahoo! does not believe that the stolen information includes any credit card information or any bank details.

But there is even more serious information is there, as the Yahoo! believes that this process had or had been taken out with the help of a state and have even dubbed the charge as a “state-sponsored actor”.

Therefore, according to Yahoo!:

“A recent investigation by Yahoo! Inc. has confirmed that a copy of certain user account information was stolen from the company’s network in late 2014 by what it believes is a state-sponsored actor. The account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers”.

“The ongoing investigation suggests that stolen information did not include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information; payment card data and bank account information are not stored in the system that the investigation has found to be affected. Based on the ongoing investigation, Yahoo believes that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts was stolen and the investigation has found no evidence that the state-sponsored actor is currently in Yahoo’s network. Yahoo is working closely with law enforcement on this matter”.

Read the statement in full here.

Moreover, Yahoo suggests that “Additionally, Yahoo asks users to consider using Yahoo Account Key, a simple authentication tool that eliminates the need to use a password altogether”.

If you have an account on Yahoo!, once again we strongly recommended to change your password as soon as possible or if it possible then immediately. As you never know where our information may come to a stop. Also make sure that you also change your passwords on other accounts if they use the same password, and simply enable two-factor authentication for online accounts immediately.