Last week I published a blog post that advised our friends and clients to ditch their Yahoo! accounts after it was announced that over a billion accounts had been hacked and user information was compromised.
Since this post I have received emails and direct messages asking for more information on how the hack could affect them personally and on a business level. I thought it would be a good idea to share those questions and my answers with everyone below..
I have a Yahoo! account but I don’t really use it for anything. Am I okay?
The biggest problem is not what was in the account, but your Yahoo! login credentials. If you use the same user name and password for all of your online accounts (banking, shopping, social media), then deleting your Yahoo! account isn’t enough. You need to go to those sites and change your password pronto. The bad guys may one day use your Yahoo! credentials on other sites and then you’ll have a whole new mess on your hands.
Doesn’t AT&T use Yahoo! for email?
Yes, AT&T sure does. If you access your email accounts with a web browser, look for a “Powered by Yahoo!” graphic at the top. If you see that on your email portal, your account with a Yahoo! partner may have been compromised.
Is there anything else I need to do to protect myself?
Outside of changing your passwords on a regular basis, I would also recommend either implementing or changing your two-factor authentication information wherever you can. 2FA is an extra layer of security that requires not only a password and username but also something that only, and only, that user has on them, i.e. a piece of information only they should know.
Using a username and password together with a piece of information that only you know makes it harder for potential intruders to gain access and steal your personal data or identity.
