Yahoo mail hacked

[Dave Sherman]

It seems my Yahoo mail got hacked, according to Yahoo's activity log. One of the IPs that got used traced to the Netherlands. I got alerted to a bunch of e-mails sent to people I know, and I've changed my password to something significantly different and more complex. Thankfully, they didn't lock me out of my own account or do anything else. Anything else I should do? Now I'm trying to figure out how it was hacked. Keylogger? Brute force? Leaked from Yahoo?

 

[Hokiefyd]

My wife had this happen to her about 6 months ago, though I never asked to see the activity log. She changed her password, but made the knee-jerk reaction to switch email providers to Google. It hasn't happened again (the Yahoo breach).

 

[getnpsi]

Do a google search of the password you were using. It's REALLY SCARY, the sharing of personal information. I blew up my credit long ago so if i was hacked they would have to help me to hurt me lol.

 

[spackard]

My wife's work account did this a few months back, GMail account, no computers were turned on at the time, no FB. I could tell it was different because it spammed all her contacts, and its origin was from gmail servers (I used to hunt spammers so I am pretty good at reading email headers).

I had her tumble her password, and installed two-factor authentication for GMail (Yahoo has two-factor authentication also, Google for it). You install an app on a mobile phone, and enter its 6 digit number when you authenticate to GMail. I figure, now even if her password is guessed/cracked, the attacker won't get in now.

You can go another level up with LastPass and let it choose unique passwords for every site you have an account on. It's free to use on a PC, but you have to pay a small monthly fee to use it on Android. One of the known weaknesses now is people using one username/password for all their online accounts. This is probably an up-and-coming exploit, and was recommended as a thing to do by a security professional recently.

 

[alex3686]

I rarely use my email because of this I don't like sharing my personal information with others. Gmail is much better than Yahoo but that's just my opinion.

 

[Cristobal]

Getting hacked is going to happen to anyone eventually, and it has happened to me. I keep all my important financial records in paper form so it will be awfully hard for the modern thief to switch gears and steal them as thieves have gone digital.

Sometimes brute-force computers are used to guess passwords, and often it is a crooked employee at some internet service provider who sells them. The latter has taken place several times at AOL.

This said, there are passwords you can construct that have as many possible guesses as half the atoms in the Universe. Those are almost impossible to crack from the outside, but a crooked employee at a service provider can be subverted with a bribe, sad to say.

 

[Kruse]

About two or three months ago, I read in the news that 10s of thousands of Yahoo email accounts were hacked and they recommended that everybody change their mail passwords.

 

[bmwjohn]

last Jan I got my yahoo account hacked and my contacts list spammed. Everything showed OK in re virus software until I tried malware bytes, which found and eliminated it. Each program has its day of greatness, then subsumes to just mediocre, so try different ones.I changed all my passwords - no, there is not just one, and they are all fairly complex - see Steve Gibson in gibson research for his tests.I use cc cleaner just in case, also. I think this is an on going problem.The 2 factor password might be a wise way to go, but sounds like a PITA.

 

[bubbajoe_2112]

Yeah, Yahoo had a hacking incident a few months back. Thousands of passwords were stolen from the Yahoo system. Don't know the details of it. Don't know if it's happening again or if your case is a separate case.

If you haven't already, I'd run a full virus scan just to be sure. But it's fairly rare that this type of hijack is caused by a virus. It's usually external to your computer.

Sounds like you have a new, strong password. At this point, that's about all you can do.

You'd be surprised at how many people still use their wife's/husband's name, pet names, etc as email passwords. Then these people build themselves a nice facebook page that tells everyone their life story to include... yes, you guessed it: their spouse's names and their pets' names... doh!!!

Several of the celebs have been hacked by simple family/social media searches performed by the hackers.