500 million Yahoo accounts had their information stolen

Yahoo confirmed that at least 500 million of its member accounts were hacked and asked users to change their passwords immediately.

Yahoo initially said that the perpetrators who stole information from its network in 2014 were "a state-sponsored group" based outside the US. The internet service provider said some user data was used, but did not estimate how many members were actually affected.

Yahoo confirms more than 500 million user accounts were hacked.

The Yahoo attack is considered the largest data breach ever against a U.S. company. The data that the hackers stole may have included names, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and secret questions and answers. Yahoo said credit card information, bank account information, and unencrypted passwords were protected because they were stored on a separate system.

In August 2016, a hacker known as “Peace” posted more than 200 million Yahoo! user accounts on a dark web site called The Real Deal. The leaked data, which included usernames, MD5-encrypted passwords, and dates of birth, is being sold for 3 Bitcoins, or $1,838.

Yahoo says it has implemented a number of security measures to protect user data. However, the internet company is still advising members to change their passwords immediately, especially those who have not done so since 2014.

According to VNE