topic Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users in Community Chat

Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

Marp — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 19:00:46 GMT

SEE UPDATE IN POST #2

Time for a password change.

Apparently Yahoo is about to confirm that it was hit by a huge data breach which involved the spillage of account details pertaining to several hundred million users.

You may recall the incident being reported back at the start of August, with allegations that a hacker known as 'peace' (or his full name 'peace_of_mind') had penetrated Yahoo security and made off with the login details of 200 million accounts, which were subsequently sold on the dark web for just shy of $2,000 (around £1,500, AU$2,700) a pop.

At the time, Yahoo said it was investigating the matter, and according to inside sources who spoke to Recode, the internet giant is about to officially confirm the breach, and presumably the exact extent of the intrusion – which the tipsters said was 'widespread and serious'.

One source the tech site spoke to hinted that it may actually be "worse, really" than the picture of 200 million details spilled which we've already had painted.

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/yahoo-is-about-to-come-clean-on-a-huge-data-breach-1329150

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

Marp — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 19:01:53 GMT

Yahoo (YHOO, Tech30) confirmed on Thursday data "associated with at least 500 million user accounts" have been stolen in what may be one of the largest cybersecurity breaches ever.

The company said it believes a "state-sponsored actor" was behind the data breach, meaning an individual acting on behalf of a government. The breach is said to have occurred in late 2014.

"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," Yahoo said in a statement.

Yahoo urges users to change their password and security questions and to review their accounts for suspicious activity.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/22/technology/yahoo-data-breach/index.html?adkey=bn

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

Puzzle Piece — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 19:03:20 GMT

I heard this last night on the news. Now, who would want to do this?

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

MyGirlsMom — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 19:05:36 GMT

smh at this - five hundred million

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

jaxs mom — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:20:42 GMT

People still use Yahoo? I don't know anyone that does.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

Marp — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:34:38 GMT

@jaxs mom wrote:
People still use Yahoo? I don't know anyone that does.

Hi JaxsMom, I'm Marp. Happy to meet you. Now you "know" someone that still uses Yahoo.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

chickenbutt — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:35:18 GMT

I wonder if it also applies to att/yahoo. My old ISP was att and the home page is att.yahoo.com. I still go there now and then to check my old email addresses and it's kind of a pain. Always one problem or another.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

Marp — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:46:07 GMT

@chickenbutt, one of my local news programs discussed this and said anyone that ever had a Yahoo account, even if it hasn't been used for years, can be at risk. They recommend changing the password on even dormant accounts.

I do not know how current these instructions are but it would be worth a try if you want to completely delete your Yahoo account.

http://www.wikihow.com/Delete-Yahoo!-Accounts

You could also search Yahoo's help pages but they aren't always the most intuitive.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

chickenbutt — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:49:07 GMT

Thanks so much for that info, Marp! That is actually very helpful.

I do know that I have an old Yahoo email account hat I haven't used in years. Hopefully I have the password stored. I also wanted to delete my att email addresses but have not been alble to do so.

I'll tell ya what - once you drop att, they mess with you in a plethora of ways. One of those is to make it hard to get to your account info and do anything.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

truffle — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:49:15 GMT

Again? Doesn't this make the 3rd time this year? Tired of changing passwords!!!!

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

dooBdoo — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:04:24 GMT

@chickenbutt wrote:
I wonder if it also applies to att/yahoo. My old ISP was att and the home page is att.yahoo.com. I still go there now and then to check my old email addresses and it's kind of a pain. Always one problem or another.

@chickenbutt, The AT&T email isn't listed specifically so far but it's still hosted by Yahoo. For this reason, I'd strongly suggest that anyone with an AT&T email account should change their password and keep a close eye on every account which might be a target for identity theft. @Marp, Thanks for this thread. This is a major concern for anyone with email that might be affected. I just noticed a great article about privacy protection and this would be a good time to share it, too.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

dmod nj — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:56:51 GMT

@Marp wrote:
@jaxs mom wrote:
People still use Yahoo? I don't know anyone that does.

Hi JaxsMom, I'm Marp. Happy to meet you. Now you "know" someone that still uses Yahoo.

Thanks @Marp for sharing this information.

Hi @jaxs mom, I'm dmod. Nice to meet you. Now you "know" two people that still use Yahoo.

Have a nice evening.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

Venezia — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:00:21 GMT

@Marp wrote:
@jaxs mom wrote:
People still use Yahoo? I don't know anyone that does.

Hi JaxsMom, I'm Marp. Happy to meet you. Now you "know" someone that still uses Yahoo.

And now she "knows" at least two! Yes, people still use Yahoo. Apparently, at least 500 milliion of us!

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

chickenbutt — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:17:49 GMT

Thanks, dooB!

I have been wanting to just completely delete that old yahoo account, and my three att (actually sbcglobal from before att acquired them) email addresses and they make it virtually impossible.

I think I just managed to delete them all.

Now that I'm with Charter, I just want those three email addresses that I use for different things (i.e. one for paying bills, etc) Plus I have a Google one that I don't use either, but that seems to be locked in with some other stuff now.

Why can't stuf just be simple?

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

nomless — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:30:08 GMT

@truffle wrote:
Again? Doesn't this make the 3rd time this year? Tired of changing passwords!!!!

The story I heard said this hack occurred in 2014.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

Marp — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:36:15 GMT

@nomless, the hack did occur in 2014 but today is the first time full disclosure has been made by Yahoo as to how widespread the breach was and what areas of personal information were affected.

What isn't clear is if there was a single breach or if it continued over a period of time. I think it was actually earlier this year that the breach was discovered, likely due to learning of the information being offered for sale.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

muttmom — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 22:38:15 GMT

All of our deceased dogs have yahoo accounts. I used them as throwaway email addresses.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

I am still oxox — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 20:22:45 GMT

Ok so this happened two years ago, and now they are telling us to change our passwords and secret questions. Isn't that kind of like closing the barn door after the horse has been stolen.

@Marp wrote:

Yahoo (YHOO, Tech30) confirmed on Thursday data "associated with at least 500 million user accounts" have been stolen in what may be one of the largest cybersecurity breaches ever.

The company said it believes a "state-sponsored actor" was behind the data breach, meaning an individual acting on behalf of a government. The breach is said to have occurred in late 2014.

"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," Yahoo said in a statement.

Yahoo urges users to change their password and security questions and to review their accounts for suspicious activity.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/22/technology/yahoo-data-breach/index.html?adkey=bn

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

JustJazzmom — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 22:52:45 GMT

Change your passwords AND your security questions.

Re: Yahoo Data Breach-500 Million Users

PinkSunset — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 00:05:09 GMT

I have yahoo and have for years. All my contacts have that email and I'm not going to change now. Everything is "hackable" anyway so if yahoo today, gmail tomorrow.

I read the story and find it suspicious that although it occurred 2 years ago they are just coming out with this story now, and asking everyone to change their password (plus asking for your phone number for backup). The deal that Verizon made to buy them out is about to close and now this story comes out? Why?

Call me cynical and suspicious but this could be a planted story to devalue stock. The article said something about checking your accounts., How in the world would anyone be able to go back over 2 years worth of account information to see if they had an unauthorized purchase for instance.

Sorry but the way the world is today, I think there is motivation behind everything we read and hear.

ETA: edited for spelling