Yahoo data breach | Round 2: 1 billion this time

[FC Ronaldo]

Yahoo fecked up. Big time. Blames a state sponsored act.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Rado_N]

Heard about this earlier, their biggest feck up was not immediately alerting account holders.

 

[VorZakone]

I'm always baffled by how hackers are able to hack these huge tech-companies.

 

[SwansonsTache]

What puzzles me the most is 500m people still having Yahoo accounts.

 

[rcoobc]

Ergh. Do I have a yahoo account? I can't see why I would, but I have one for everything else.

 

[Pexbo]

I'm always baffled by how hackers are able to hack these huge tech-companies.

All systems have flaws. There are some absolutely brilliant minds out there who choose to use their talents for the wrong things.

 

[Olly Gunnar Solskjær]

It's very kind of them to inform people two years later.

 

[Dan]

What puzzles me the most is 500m people still having Yahoo accounts.

It's pretty difficult letting go of an email account you've had since 1997.

 

[Rado_N]

I'm always baffled by how hackers are able to hack these huge tech-companies.

The NSA have been hacked.

What puzzles me the most is 500m people still having Yahoo accounts.

Flickr, fantasy sports, old email accounts, etc etc.

 

[skidmark]

What puzzles me the most is 500m people still having Yahoo accounts.

1 less now.

 

[Olly Gunnar Solskjær]

I used to love Yahoo Pool.

 

[The Firestarter]

The NSA have been hacked.



Flickr, fantasy sports, old email accounts, etc etc.

No, they really were not. See
NSA hacked - "shadow brokers" release some code of hacking software

 

[Rado_N]

No, they really were not. See
NSA hacked - "shadow brokers" release some code of hacking software

I thought they had in the past? And the FBI?

 

[The Firestarter]

I thought they had in the past? And the FBI?

Their sensitive networks are not linked to the global internet. If you refer to Snowden, he had the necessary clearance to access the data.

As far as the FBI are concerned, I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised if true. The security standard is probably not the same as the agencies under the DoD.

 

[Rado_N]

Their sensitive networks are not linked to the global internet. If you refer to Snowden, he had the necessary clearance to access the data.

As far as the FBI are concerned, I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised if true. The security standard is probably not the same as the agencies under the DoD.

Fair enough.

 

[The Firestarter]

FAO those who wonder how a big company like Yahoo can get hacked: Almost every online company uses some form of open source software. People develop software. People make mistakes. Other people find and exploit those mistakes. Some of them tell the whole world about those mistakes. Others keep this knowledge to themselves, for fun and profit.

In other words, an IT department can fix only what they know is broken. Unless the name of the company is Google or Microsoft , they will not have the talent or resources available to review every single line of code that forms all the 3rd party software they are using.

And there is the possibility of a feckup, meaning a security issue in some open source soft was publicly known, but they failed to patch their servers, and later that same issue was exploited by some 15 year old kit that downloaded a ready made tool.

 

[Drifter]

This happened in 2014?. Can't say i've ever used Yahoo but if this is their response time thank goodness i never did.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

Idiot question but what do the hackers do with the data they steal?

 

[Raoul]

Idiot question but what do the hackers do with the data they steal?

They typically sell the information to other would be e-criminals on the dark web for the purpose of identity theft.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

They typically sell the information to other would be e-criminals on the dark web for the purpose of identity theft.

Makes sense. I think my first ever email account was with yahoo.

 

[Dan]

Anyone on Sky should change their password too.

 

[FC Ronaldo]

They did it again. Kept this one quieter, for longer, even though it affected more!

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[fcbforever]

Yahoo still got a billion users?

 

[Dan]

Yahoo still got a billion users?

My Yahoo email account is 19 years old, I just can't give it up.

 

[Raoul]

My Yahoo email account is 19 years old, I just can't give it up.

So is mine. I got mine so early that I actually emailed someone at Yahoo in the mid 90s and got one on one tech support. They were very small back then.

 

[Raoul]

They did it again. Kept this one quieter, for longer, even though it affected more!

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

So if people changed their passwords after 2013 they should be ok ? Or no ?

 

[MrMarcello]

What puzzles me the most is 500m people still having Yahoo accounts.

I have like 10000+ unread messages. So much spam that I never bother with it, use gmail as my primary which has also become a spam haven.

 

[2mufc0]

I got an email from them today about this, thankfully it's not my main account and it's not linked to any other services like ebay, paypal, online banking etc.

 

[rcoobc]

I have like 10000+ unread messages. So much spam that I never bother with it, use gmail as my primary which has also become a spam haven.

I make sure I have promotions, social and updates turned on. That'll put the vast majority of spammy stuff in separate folders.

 

[NinjaFletch]

I think I'm probably one of those 1bn but feck knows what the email address or password was.

 

[Kasper]

Why are people surprised that there are still so many Yahoo accounts? Who the hell actually deletes an internet account? 99% just stop using the account and let it rot, I bet over half of these Yahoo accounts are non-active.

 

[Smores]

Yahoo/Hotmail have always been weak security wise. As others have said its not really the account likely to be non-active thats the goal its all the information and linked accounts they can get their hands on. Especially those where your Yahoo account is the backup.

 

[Rightnr]

Yahoo need to be shut down for good. This amounts to criminal negligence and lying to customers for so long only makes it worse.

 

[Raoul]

I approve most of the CAF's new registrations and routinely see yahoo accounts with being used from places like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan etc....with Anglo sounding names like Charles_Jones4390@yahoo.com (I made that up) and the like. Sri Lanka in particular is a routine offender.