Yahoo confirms hack, says data from 500 million user accounts stolen

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Yahoo on Thursday confirmed that certain user account information was stolen from the company’s network in late 2014. Recode has the official statement, which says that it believes more than 500 million users were affected by the breach.

The good news is that Yahoo says from what it knows so far, the stolen information doesn’t include payment card data, bank account information, or unprotected passwords. The firm is working closely with law enforcement in its investigation.

“We have 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.”

Remember that Yahoo is currently in the process of being acquired by Verizon, so this attack could have a major impact on that deal. It sounds like the company hasn’t exactly been upfront with its buyers regarding the seriousness of the breach.

As always, we recommend that you use a separate password for every service, and enable extra security whenever possible.

Source: Recode