Now, according to the latest announcement, the number of affected accounts has tragically escalated to 3 billion. That’s almost the total number of Yahoo accounts back then. The company says that “all Yahoo user accounts were affected by the August 2013 theft.”
Yahoo is contacting the affected users via email. The users might read it if they still access their Yahoo email inbox. Further, Yahoo claims the leaked data didn’t include “passwords in clear text, payment card data, or bank account information.”
When Yahoo reported the data breach for the first time, Verizon Communications was in the process of acquiring Yahoo’s internet business. It is now a part of Verizon’s newly created common umbrella called Oath, which also includes AOL. The December 2016 revelation was separate from another 2014 data breach reported in September 2016, which affected 500 million accounts.
Yahoo has a FAQ page dedicated to the 2013 Yahoo data breach where you can find all the updates regarding the issue. If you have a Yahoo account, it’s recommended that you should change your password and turn on required security settings.
