Yahoo says detected hacking attempt on email accounts

[PumpkinAle]

Last edited Fri Jan 31, 2014, 05:48 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc said it had detected a "coordinated effort" to gain unauthorized access to Yahoo Mail accounts using malicious computer software.

The company said on its official blog that it believed that the attackers were attempting to access the accounts using credentials that had been obtained from a breach of another company's user database. It did not identify that company.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/31/us-yahoo-hack-idUSBREA0T21H20140131


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/31/us-yahoo-hack-idUSBREA0T21H20140131

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I didn't see this, but if I reposted, feel free to delete this one.

[Baitball Blogger]

1. Did it give out any contact info for the FBI branch that

investigates computer hacking?

[taotzu]

2. Get a Different Acct. Somewhere Else

Having a yahoo acct. is so retro in a very bad way. Yahoo has never been an e-mail acct. that was worth anything. They have always been the last place that one should go to create an e-mail acct. It is constantly being attacked on a daily basis and the people who run the IT dept. are third rate knuckleheads that know very little about what they need to do to control what is going on. Never store anything of value on their servers always keep your personal and valuable information in digital form on an encrypted flash drive or external HD in a safe in your home. Never give into the notion that you should keep any personal or valuable info on the cloud either. I am a network security analyst letting you know that no one can keep your personal and valuable info safe but yourself. I know that it may make things easier for you but it also makes it easier for anyone like myself to acquire that info and do bad things with it. So it may take you a few more minutes to accomplish something better safe than sorry or broke.

[Skittles]

3. good advice, tatzu

welcome to DU

[question everything]

5. Thank you. I don't keep any valuable information on Yahoo

and, I suppose, the various financial institutions do have my username and passwords..

I don't trust the Cloud, either.

[SoapBox]

7. Super ditto to the Cloud thing.

People are running to the Cloud like lemmings.

Just wait for that disaster.

[JDPriestly]

17. Better yet. If we stopped doing our business and banking on the internet, you'd better believe

things would change. First, hacking would not pay. Second, maybe the NSA would protect us from hackers instead of collecting all our personal information. That would be a better use of their time. They might actually catch a few terrorists while they are at it.

[Stuart G]

4. Here is another link at AP news...this is legit..here is what AP has....AP "Security Breach"

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEC_YAHOO_SECURITY_BREACH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Yahoo has admitted this, but not big news yet..(AP says this happened last night)

"Yahoo said the usernames and passwords weren't collected from its own systems, but from a third-party database."
from AP story above...

another link at LA Times:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The company said it has found no evidence that Yahoo Mail was hacked into. Rather, the emails and passwords used to access users' accounts were likely obtained from a third-party database that was compromised.

"Our ongoing investigation shows that malicious computer software used the list of usernames and passwords to access Yahoo Mail accounts," Yahoo said in a blog post.

After breaching accounts, hackers tried to obtain the emails and addresses of people whom the compromised users most recently sent messages to, Yahoo said.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-yahoo-mail-breach-number-users-not-disclosed-20140130,0,3294421.story#ixzz2s0QpE4nt

[SoapBox]

6. Yes...a good idea to change your password BUT...read the articles.

Some other site was hacked...they took names, emails and passwords...in hopes that people were using the same password on their Yahoo mail account. So it wasn't Yahoo that was directly hacked.

You are most likely ok if you use different passwords for different sites/accounts. You are the most safe if you just go ahead and change your password.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. PumpkinAle - please edit the OP to shows what is your personal opinion

You entered, in the box for an excerpt from the article, your personal opinion "IMPORTANT – YAHOO EMAIL SERVER HACKED - CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD IMMEDIATELY If you have a Yahoo email account with private/personal information – you’re best served to change your password immediately ". That does not appear in the article; indeed you quoted nothing from the article.

Please edit, to put some content (up to 4 paragraphs) from the article in the place designed for an excerpt, and move your opinion to the section that is marked for you to add your own remarks. And also please edit the title to reflect the actual Yahoo title: "Yahoo says detected hacking attempt on email accounts", as LBN rules require.

Yours,
an LBN host.

[PumpkinAle]

15. Thanks

muriel - I think I have it right now - if not please let me know.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. That looks fine - thanks for editing (nt)

[freshwest]

9. I've got a lot in my account from years ago... But it's almost impossible to read now.

I wish I could just kill the thing but the accounts never go away like the Hotmail acccounts did for lack of use.

If there was anyone getting stuff from it, they already have, isn't that what the article is saying?

Anyone got any ideas how to kill the account just in case? TIA.

[alp227]

10. Glad i quit yahoo mail back in 07 & switched to gmail nt

[SoapBox]

13. Google Mail?

Wasn't it Google, that there was the big drama over how they were going to extract keywords from mails, for their advertising and stats?

Not to mention Android...yikes talk about virus, malware, hacker accessible.

I don't "Google" ever and wouldn't trust Google with anything!

p.s...I love your posts alp227...if I see your name, I make it a point (along with seeing several other DUer's names that I know will post interesting stuff). Keep it coming!

[dipsydoodle]

11. Not LBN

24 hours old according to the link you posted.

[red dog 1]

12. Thanks for posting,

I have had a Yahoo e-mail account for nearly 5 years, but I have not stored any personal info etc.
If the hackers want to know who I've e-mailed, I don't give a crap.
However I will be changing my password.
I don't like Yahoo...I often have trouble opening my mail, which is mainly from NPOs I've donated to, and a couple of other sites....I only check my Yahoo e-mails once or twice a week.

I also have a G-mail account, which is the one I use daily, & which is the one my friends & family use to get hold of me & vice versa.
G-mail is far better than Yahoo, in my opinion.

[woodsprite]

14. I just went and tried to log in and couldn't.

I don't use it a lot. It's a convenience email when I need to set something up for the kids.

When I went through their online "help", it wanted to text my password reset to a cell phone number I didn't recognize and I couldn't get to the point where it would ask me my security questions. None of our cell numbers in our family ever ended in an **80 so I think somehow there was a bogus number in the contact info. I was just in this account last week and reset everything, including the security questions, so I know it was working then.

I didn't click to have it sent to that strange number. I called their phone help line. It said due to a high volume of calls, they couldn't take my call, instead use their online help. Somehow when I picked a different combo of things and got into their "Yahoo Password Helper". That came up and asked me for my account. It came back with my email instead of the strange phone number, and I was able to get my password reset.

It pisses me off when someone or something messes with my accounts!!!