At least 500 million accounts were hacked in a cyber attack in late 2014, with information including users' names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and more stolen, Yahoo said.
However, Yahoo said that bank information containing payment card data has not been breached. The internet company claimed hackings were carried out by a "state-sponsored actor" and Yahoo is now working with law enforcers on an investigation.
Yahoo is to notify affected users of the hacking attack and urge them to change passwords. Also, the compromised security questions needed to change personal information on Yahoo accounts are no longer usable.
Yahoo went on an investigation after finding out some hackers were found to have sold personal information of its users online earlier this year. This situation is definitely not good for Yahoo as the leaks could seriously affect its planned sale to US mobile carrier Verizon.
Aju News Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com