500 million accounts of Yahoo! have been hacked – Obs

Panic on board. The internet group Yahoo! confirmed to have been a victim, by the end of 2014, of a massive cyber-attack perpetrated by an entity probably related to a State, which has allocated 500 million accounts of its users.

This hacking illegal against Yahoo! is one of the most important that have ever referred to an american company. In 2012, the internet portal claimed more than a billion accounts in its databases.

banking Data preserved

hackers have stolen personal information such as birth dates, names, email addresses, telephone numbers, passwords, listed the group.

The banking data of the users, however, have not been affected, assures Yahoo! that said it is working closely with the relevant us authorities on this piracy.

“The investigation found no evidence that shows that the entity in question is currently present in the computer system of Yahoo!”, continuing the group, which claims to have contacted the affected users.

The portal american does not give the name of the entity that he suspects.

Already have an attack in 2012

But in August, a “hacker” named “Peace” has appeared on various forums on the internet, offering 200 million user names and passwords Yahoo! for $ 1,900 in total. “Peace” is known to have followed the same procedure with the data of the users of Myspace and Linkedin.

“If I have to announce the bad news that my company has been hacked and that at least 500 million accounts are affected, I would feel more relieved to say that the hackers are sponsored by a State’ than to say that it is a band of 15 year-olds a place of ill repute in the city,” writes security expert Graham Cluley.

he claims to have taken the necessary steps to secure the accounts hacked, Yahoo! recommends that users who have not changed their passwords since 2014 to do so as soon as possible, as well as to proceed with a change of security questions and answers.

users are also called to examine closely their accounts to ensure that there was no “suspicious”. Finally, Yahoo! advocates don’t click on links or download attachments from e-mail addresses as “suspect” and to be vigilant on any request with a request for personal information.

Yahoo! recalls, moreover, that the intrusions into the computer systems of technology groups by entities sponsored by States have increased recently. These cyber attacks have led the technological sector to launch in December 2015, a program designed to notify users as soon as they have the belief that an attack was carried out by an entity sponsored by a State. Apart from the ongoing investigation, with some 10,000 users Yahoo! have already been notified in the framework of this program.

Bad timing for Yahoo

This intrusion could impact the sale of $ 4.8 billion in July activities the internet (Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News…) of the group in the telecom operator american Verizon. The transaction price could change.

“We were warned in the last two days, a security incident at Yahoo (…) We did (for the moment) only limited information and a limited view on the impact” of the attack, has reacted Verizon.

“We will evaluate (the consequences) as of developments in the investigation while highlighting the interest of Verizon (…) In the meantime, we are not in a position to say any more,” says the operator.

For Graham Cluley, “frankly, the timing couldn’t be worse for Yahoo!”.

This is not the first time that Yahoo! is the victim of illegal infiltration into its database: in 2012, hackers had succeeded in stealing the data (passwords and user names) to 453.000 accounts.

beyond Yahoo!, the hacks have multiplied in recent months in the United States, most of them aimed at the computer systems, the internet of large groups such as retailers Home Depot and Target, the first american bank JPMorgan Chase, the health insurer Anthem, or the film studios Sony Pictures Entertainment. In several cases, the perpetrators were suspected to be based in China. In ten years, cyber-attacks against companies and entities in the united states have exploded 397 percent, according to the firm Identity Theft Resource Center.