Yahoo hasn’t given out much information as to which accounts were hacked. But what should you do about it?
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Yahoo, which confirmed details of the breach months after reports of a major hack, said its investigation concluded that “certain user account information was stolen” and that the attack came from “what it believes is a state-sponsored actor”. In July, 161 million people worldwide used Yahoo email on personal computers, a 30 percent decline from the same time in 2014, when the breach first occurred. And spokespeople didn’t answer questions about whether specific services such as fantasy sports accounts were included in the hack. Any unencrypted security questions and answers will be invalidated, meaning that users will have to submit new ones. Security experts strongly recommend not using the same password across several websites.
“I suppose a hacker could make the connection between my Yahoo and Gmail”, said Scott Braun, 47, who created a Yahoo email when he was setting up a shop on online retailer Etsy. Consider taking a sentence you can remember and adding multiple different numbers and symbols throughout. So for example he may use TPS, Yahoo, 123. This requires an extra step like sending a code to your smartphone or email on every login attempt. “If you have an account that you don’t use, you should delete it”.
Data breaches often lead to other scams, with crooks trying to capitalize on your fears and concerns.
That information is stored on a separate system that was not affected by the breach. But how do you know the email is legit, and not a spoof from another cybercriminal pumping you for information? A similar complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in San Jose on Friday says Yahoo was “grossly negligent” in dealing with and reporting the security breach.
“Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from suspicious emails”.
East Texas News sat down with a Lufkin tech specialist and asked them how you can protect yourself from hackers.
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The email breach raises questions about Yahoo’s ability to maintain secure and effective services, particularly since it’s been laying off staff and trimming expenses to counter a steep drop in revenue over the past eight years. Although the stolen data could still be used in financial crimes, such as identity theft, experts say a foreign intelligence agency might combine the Yahoo files with information from other sources to build extensive dossiers on USA government or corporate officials in sensitive positions. But keep an eye on your accounts just to be sure, especially any that were linked to your Yahoo account.
