NEW YORK (Web Desk) – US tech giant Yahoo expressed on Thursday it believes a “state-sponsored actor” stole information relating to whooping amount of 500 million user accounts from its network at the end of 2014.
“Based on the ongoing investigation, Yahoo believes that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts was stolen, Yahoo is working closely with law enforcement on this matter” company said in a statement.
The data stolen may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and hashed passwords but may not have included unprotected passwords, payment card data or bank account information, the company confirmed.
Computer security analyst Graham Cluley said the stolen Yahoo data “could be useful ammunition for any hacker attempting to break into Yahoo accounts, or interested in exploring whether users might have used the same security questions/answers to protect themselves elsewhere on the web.”
Yahoo is asking affected users to change passwords, and recommending anyone who hasn’t done so since 2014 take the same action as a precaution.
The data breach marred the deal between yahoo and Verizon as Yahoo was all set to sell its core internet business to telecom giant Verizon for $4.8 billion.
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