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Yahoo Data Breach

Discussion in 'Security and Privacy' started by James Martin, 2016/09/22.

  1. 2016/09/22
    James Martin

    James Martin Geek Member Thread Starter

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    James Martin,
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  2. 2016/09/22
    James Martin

    James Martin Geek Member Thread Starter

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  4. 2016/09/25
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Spark in NZ have placed in local newspapers, a full page advert advising users to register as Spark have changed from Yahoo. I changed from Spark (formerly Telecom NZ) because they had a major breach with their previous provider.
     
    retiredlearner,
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  5. 2016/09/26
    James Martin

    James Martin Geek Member Thread Starter

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    So far, I have had to change passwords for three, free, Yahoo accounts, and one paid AT&T / Yahoo email account. On top of the, I had to change my AT&T password (and security questions) that allows me to access my online phone and internet account.

    If that wasn't enough, I had to change a friend's AT&T password / security questions to their online account too.

    AT&T confirmed to me that the (Yahoo) data breach included them as well.

    Ouch!
     
    James Martin,
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  6. 2016/09/26
    James Martin

    James Martin Geek Member Thread Starter

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    I really don't know what to make of Yahoo anymore. They used to be an exciting, trend-setting, company, but they are under totally different ownership now, and their journalistic skills are not that great either.
     
    James Martin,
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  7. 2016/10/23
    James Martin

    James Martin Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Last edited: 2016/10/23
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  8. 2016/12/21
    James Martin

    James Martin Geek Member Thread Starter

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    I've heard that there has been yet another Yahoo breach of information that includes private data from up to one billion accounts. Are users going to have to change sign-in credentials yet again?
     
    James Martin,
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  9. 2016/12/21
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Both yahoo data breaches took place years ago, the latter being approx 1B accounts, but years ago. Thus if changed your password last year you are "safe"...for the time being. The passwords that were obtained were MD5 hashes of the actual password. MD5 cannot be reversed, meaning the password cannot be decrypted.

    However, there are plenty of databases floating around that contain a plain text set of characters and their matching MD5 hash. Criminals can check the hash against these databases and dictionaries and reverse the hash to plain text. The most success will be had for simple passwords, e.g. words in a dictionary.
     
    TonyT,
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  10. 2016/12/21
    James Martin

    James Martin Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks, Tony. Never really knew what MD5 was until now.

    Due to ongoing security concerns, I use individually computer-generated passwords for most of my online accounts. There's no way I can remember them all, so I have to rely on Roboform to help me out.

    For what it's worth, one of my Yahoo accounts was pwned according to the link I posted near the top of the thread.
     
    James Martin,
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  11. 2016/12/22
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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  12. 2017/01/25
    felicityblue

    felicityblue Well-Known Member

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    I have been getting notifications for attempted sign-ins to my old yahoo account. Like more than a dozen since November and the last one I got was yesterday.
     
    felicityblue,
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  13. 2017/01/27
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    I have NEVER used Yahoo. I changed from Telecom NZ the moment they informed users that they (Telecom) were going to use Yahoo with email. Very glad I made that decision years ago.
     
    retiredlearner,
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  14. 2017/02/14
    felicityblue

    felicityblue Well-Known Member

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    I only used those Yahoo accounts for signing up to websites I was trying anyway so there's really nothing there.
     
    felicityblue,
    #13

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