TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Yahoo! disclosed an attempt of hackery into the Yahoo email accounts. The usernames and passwords of the users were stolen and used to log on to several accounts or other sites. However, Yahoo! did not disclose the exact number of the attacked accounts.
Yahoo! said it recently discovered the breach, and suspects that malware was employed to take the user information from an undisclosed third party database.
"Based on our current findings, the list of usernames and passwords that were used to execute the attack was likely collected from a third-party database compromise. We have no evidence that they were obtained directly from Yahoo’s systems," the company said in a statement posted to its Tumblr page.
"We regret this has happened and want to assure our users that we take the security of their data very seriously," Yahoo! wrote as quoted by The Guardian.
Apart from seeking out and ultimately prosecuting those responsible for the attack, Jay Rossiter, the senior vice president in charge of Yahoo!'s platforms and personalization products, said Yahoo! had "implemented additional measures to block attacks against Yahoo!'s systems."
The company also reset the passwords of those affected, and sent out text messages to them so that they could "re-secure their accounts."
Analysts said that access to email accounts is part and parcel of more serious breaches which target online banking and shopping. For example, hackers could attempt to log into a user's bank account and ask for a password reminder to be sent by email.
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