Yahoo just announced yet another security breach, and if you have an account with Yahoo you should assume you’re affected. It’s estimated that over 1 billion (yes Billion) accounts have been compromised. This is by far the biggest hack on any company ever and it’s a pretty big deal. Even if you don’t have a Yahoo account you should still read on and prepare yourself in case one day one of the companies you use gets hacked. If you want to keep your money safe you better listen
What do you need to do if you have a Yahoo account?
The first thing you should do is go and change your password, like right now. Make sure you change it to something secure using upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. If you can’t come up with a good one then use a password app or some sort of password help software to keep you in line. Don’t use the same password anywhere else.
That’s not all that can get you though. Your security question answers were also stolen. So now hackers know your favorite pet’s name, and your place of birth if that was one of the questions. If you think you may have used the same security question anywhere else then you need to change them all now. My advice is to change them anyways.
If you have the option to not use security questions at all then I would say not to use them at all if you can. That’s just another way they can hack into you if you have an easy to guess question. If you’re required to use the security questions then make the answers more difficult to answer by using upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters again just like you have in your password. The point is to make the security question hard to crack. Once again you don’t want to use a duplicate answer to a question anywhere else.
If you can avoid the security questions then do so. If you have a strong password without them you’ll be much better off even though it might not seem that way since they’re “security questions”.
Use 2 factor authentication
If you have the option to use 2 factor authentication then you should use it. It might be a bit of a hassle, but it’s better than the hassle of getting robbed of your money. What this does is it will send you a text or call to your phone with a password to use alongside your other password. This makes it a lot more difficult for hackers.
Use Yahoo’s Account Key
I hope you’re not using the same password in more than one place while yahoo was breached and passwords stolen. In any case if you’re not using Yahoo’s account key I suggest you start using it. It will use your phone for 2 factor authentication for better security.
This is directly from Yahoo:
We encourage all of our users to follow these security recommendations:
- Change your password and security questions and answers for any other accounts on which you use the same or similar information used for your Yahoo Account.
- Review all of your accounts for suspicious activity.
- Be cautious of any unsolicited communications that ask for your personal information or refer you to a web page asking for personal information.
- Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from suspicious emails.
“Additionally, please consider using Yahoo’s account Key, a simple authentication tool that eliminates the need to use a password on Yahoo altogether.”
Even though this is just a Yahoo hack story right now, more than anything it’s a reminder that even some of the largest companies in the world can be hacked. It’s your responsibility to do what you can to safeguard your credentials.