Yahoo confirms about 500 million users had personal information stolen in ‘state-sponsored’ hack
The attack took place in 2014 but the company has only recently realised how much information was taken
HACKERS have stolen information including un-encrypted security questions from about 500 million users from Yahoo.
The breach, which occurred in late 2014, was confirmed by the company, which revealed huge amounts of personal information had been stolen in the "state-sponsored attack".
The company said that the breach had been worse than previously thought.
: "A recent investigation by Yahoo has confirmed that a copy of certain user account information was stolen from the company’s network in late 2014 by what it believes is a state-sponsored actor.
"The account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers."
RELATED STORIES
It said that its ongoing investigation found that the stolen information did not include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information.
In the statement, it confirmed that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts were stolen with the company now working with law enforcement.
The statement said: "Online intrusions and thefts by state-sponsored actors have become increasingly common across the technology industry."
Yahoo said it was notifying potentially affected users and encouraged users to review their online accounts for any suspicious activity.
Verizon, which bought Yahoo for USD$4.83 billion in July 2016, said it had been notified of the massive breach.
It said: "Within the last two days, we were notified of Yahoo's security incident.
"We understand that Yahoo is conducting an active investigation into this matter, but we otherwise have limited information and understanding of the impact."
"We will evaluate as the investigation continues through the lens of overall Verizon interests, including consumers, customers, shareholders and related communities."
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368.