Yahoo’s investigation on this matter has found that hackers did not steal unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information of users.
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The silver lining for users – if there is one – is that sensitive financial data like bank account numbers and credit card data are not believed to be included in the stolen information, according to Yahoo.
The tech company issued a statement saying that the information was “stolen by what we believe is a state-sponsored actor”, but gave no indication of who the current suspects were.
Law enforcement in the USA is now investigating the matter.
We strongly advise anybody who uses or has used a Yahoo account to change all their passwords and where possible change the answers to security questions. Lord also said that password information – though not passwords in plain text – may have been stolen, as well as some answers to security questions.
Yahoo didn’t explain the delay in uncovering a heist that it blamed on a “state-sponsored actor”, parlance for a hacker working on behalf of a foreign government.
Again some might see that as something of a smokescreen, given that there is no question from Yahoo that the hack happened and that its security and therefore that of its account holders was breached.
In the security notice, Yahoo has asked potential affected users to change their passwords earliest.
“Through strategic proactive detection initiatives and active response to unauthorised access of accounts, Yahoo will continue to strive to stay ahead of these ever-evolving online threats and to keep our users and our platforms secure”. “Additionally, we are asking potentially affected users to promptly change their passwords and adopt alternate means of account verification”. An investigation into the hack is ongoing, Yahoo!
Sign in to your account and check for any suspicious activity, and promptly act if there is an urgent need to do so.
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Yahoo has come clean, admitting finally that hackers stole account information of at least 500 million users two years ago.
