500 Million Yahoo Accounts Breached In Major Hack

The hack has been described as the largest publicly disclosed cyber-attack in history.

Yahoo said the personal information of at least 500 million users were stolen during a cyber attack in 2014.

The information leaked includes: names, passwords, email addresses, phone numbers and security questions.

The group behind the attack is believed to be a state-sponsored hacking group.

The news came as a surprise to many, including this guy.

"Online intrusions and thefts by state-sponsored actors have become increasingly common across the technology industry," Yahoo said in a statement.

At the current stage of investigation it appears that the hackers have not taken payment card data or bank account information. Users affected by the breach are being notified and their accounts are being secured. Yahoo has confirmed there is no evidence the attacker is still in their networks.

Users are being encouraged to take preventative steps, such as reviewing online accounts for suspicious activity, changing all similar passwords and security questions. They are also being urged to be vigilant about emails purporting to be from Yahoo which prompt them to click links, download attachments or give out personal information.

Considering the sheer scale of the breach, people are understandably concerned about why they are only just hearing about it now. US Senator Mark Warner - who has worked in the technology industry - has urged Congress to create a data breach notification standard to ensure people are made aware of data theft as soon as possible.

As is common for most depressing situations, there are folks on the Internet who aren't even fazed.

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