(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (KUNA) -- Internet giant Yahoo revealed Thursday that more than 500 million of its user accounts were hacked two years ago in what it believes was a "state-sponsored" act.
The admission suggests this may have been the largest hack of all time. In a press release, Yahoo said it does not believe that payment information was compromised, but "(stolen) account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers." The company advised all users that have not changed their passwords since 2014 to update them, and to change passwords on other accounts if they happen to be the same as their Yahoo password. The state actor(s) in question were not identified.
"Online intrusions and thefts by state-sponsored actors have become increasingly common across the technology industry. Yahoo and other companies have launched programs to detect and notify users when a company strongly suspects that a state-sponsored actor has targeted an account," the statement read.
Telecom giant Verizon, which recently bought Yahoo, released a brief statement on social media saying they were only notified of the incident two days ago.
"We -- have limited information and understanding of the impact," Verizon said. (end) ys.gb