Users of Yahoo mail are advised to change their passwords immediately following a data breach that has compromised the usernames and passwords of an unknown number of Yahoo Mail accounts.
The details were stolen after an attack on a third-party database that contained sensitive information. The accounts were then accessed to obtain records of the recently emailed addresses, which can then be used to spam other accounts or to access personal banking sites. In a blog post, Yahoo assured customers that they took immediate action to contain the damage, and accounts known to be impacted will receive a prompt to change their password.
Users are reminded that using the same password for multiple sites makes this kind of attack more dangerous, as criminals could have access to online shopping or even banking details once an email address is compromised.
