SIGN UP FOR OUR Los Angeles, Dec. 14 — Yahoo Inc. said Wednesday that an “unauthorized third party” gained access to personal information from more than 1 billion e-mail accounts.
This is a good time for Yahoo users to change their password, if they haven’t in a while; source Facebook.
“The investigation indicates that the stolen information did not include passwords in clear text, payment card data, or bank account information,” the Internet giant said in a statement.
The unknown attackers may have obtained names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and dates of birth, among other information.
Yahoo began an investigation after law enforcement provided the Sunnyvale, California-based firm with files said to be data from Yahoo users, the statement said.
“Based on further analysis of this data by the forensic experts, Yahoo believes an unauthorized third party, in August 2013, stole data associated with more than 1 billion user accounts,” the company said, adding that it had not been able “to identify the intrusion associated with this theft.”
Yahoo said the incident was “likely distinct” from the breach of 500 million user accounts that the firm disclosed on Sept. 22, 2016.
The company said it will notify affect users and that it was coordinating its security efforts with law enforcement. EFE
