Yahoo Breach Confirmed – Information From At Least 500 Million Accounts Stolen in 2014

Internet giant Yahoo has now officially confirmed that at least 500 million accounts were compromised in a massive 2014 security breach.

A press release from the company notes :

A recent investigation by Yahoo 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.

If you have not changed your Yahoo password since 2014 – or if you cannot remember when you last changed it – you are strongly advised to change the password as soon as possible.

Read Yahoo’s full statement on the breach.