Yahoo Says Information on at Least 500 Million User Accounts Was Stolen

The internet company, which has agreed to sell its core business to Verizon Communications Inc., said Thursday that hackers penetrated its network in late 2014 and stole personal data on more than 500 million users. The stolen data included names, email addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers and encrypted passwords, Yahoo said.

Yahoo said it believes that the hackers are no longer in its corporate network. The company said it didn't believe that unprotected passwords, payment-card data or bank-account information had been affected.

In a proxy filing related to the Verizon deal on Sept. 9, Yahoo said it wasn't aware of any “security breaches” or “loss, theft, unauthorized access or acquisition” of user data. Yahoo declined to comment on the filing.

Yahoo didn’t say how the hackers broke into its network or which country sponsored the attacks.

Yahoo said the stolen passwords were encrypted, but computer-security experts said a determined attacker could unscramble passwords—especially simple passwords—using commonly available “cracking” software. Once cracked, hackers could break into Yahoo accounts and—if the password happened to be reused on another web service—possibly other websites too.

Security experts recommend that consumers add a “second factor” of authentication to their online accounts. Typically this means receiving a short code via text message every time the user logs in from an unknown computer.

Yahoo says that its users should change their passwords and security questions, and avoid using the same password on multiple accounts.

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