Yahoo has confirmed that information from at least 500 million user accounts was stolen in 2014. While the information was leaked earlier today, it’s worse than we initially thought. If you have a Yahoo account, it’s time to change your password.
Yahoo is notifying potentially affected users right now, but the information that was accessed by what they’re calling a “state-sponsored actor” includes tons of personally identifiable information, though thankfully no credit card numbers or bank account information was accessed. Here’s what Yahoo released today:
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.
Instead of waiting from that email from Yahoo to confirm your info was included in this breach, it’s best to change your password right now. Use strong passwords, get a password manager, and don’t use the same password as you do for other sites. It’s also a good time to enable two-factor authentication on that Yahoo account.