posted December 14, 2016 08:38 PM            

Important Security Information
Wednesday, December 14, 2016 5:45 PM

Yahoo!
NOTICE OF DATA BREACH

Dear {name},

We are writing to inform you about a data security issue that may involve your Yahoo account information. We have taken steps to secure your account and are working closely with law enforcement.

What Happened?
{I added extra paragraphs, bold, or italics here for clarity.}

Law enforcement provided Yahoo in November 2016 with data files that a third party claimed was Yahoo user data.

We analyzed this data with the assistance of outside forensic experts and found that it appears to be Yahoo user data.

Based on further analysis of this data by the forensic experts, we believe an unauthorized third party, in August 2013, stole data associated with a broader set of user accounts, including yours.

We have not been able to identify the intrusion associated with this theft.

We believe this incident is likely distinct from the incident we disclosed on September 22, 2016.

What Information Was Involved?
The stolen user account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (using MD5) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.
Not all of these data elements may have been present for your account.
The investigation indicates that the stolen information did not include passwords in clear text, payment card data, or bank account information.
Payment card data and bank account information are not stored in the system we believe was affected.

What We Are Doing
We are taking action to protect our users:

- We are requiring potentially affected users to change their passwords.

- We invalidated unencrypted security questions and answers so that they cannot be used to access an account.

- We continuously enhance our safeguards and systems that detect and prevent unauthorized access to user accounts.

What You Can Do
We encourage you to follow these security recommendations:

- Change your passwords and security questions and answers for any other accounts on which you used 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 Account Key, a simple authentication tool that eliminates the need to use a password on Yahoo altogether.

For More Information
For more information about this issue and our security resources, please visit the Yahoo Security Issues FAQs page available at https://yahoo.com/security-update.

{ http://yahoo.com/security-update }

Protecting your information is important to us and we work continuously to strengthen our defenses.

Sincerely,

posted December 14, 2016 08:41 PM            

Just passing this along for the info ....
If you have any suggestions for me? I'd appreciate your input.

posted December 14, 2016 11:35 PM            

I say that because a lot of security alerts are fake, and are intended to scare you into revealing information to somehow confirm who you are to otherwise secure your account. But when you provide the information, it instead goes to a REAL breach of security who can do all sorts of bad things with that info (or they sell the info you provide to others who will).

I don't know if that's the case here, but I mention it in case it becomes relevant. If I thought it was legite and worth learning more about then I'd get to the site WITHOUT clicking the link (as the link will probably redirect you to a scammer site, though it will look real, and probably then forward you to the real site it claims to be part of once it has gained what it wants from you). That is to say, if a link claims it will take you to the Yahoo site for computer security, I'd get there manually rather than clicking the link to get there.

Btw, if anyone calls you claiming there's a virus on your computer or some such, it's also fake. Even if your caller ID says they're Microsoft in Washington, it's a fake (it was funny that one time that happened to me and the guy was obviously from India who could barely speak English, which is too bad as I was hoping to be entertained by how MS "detected a virus" on my computer, and as he wasn't fluent in English he could not understand that I was not falling for his scam so he kept robo-calling me over and over again with the same line that he must've been reading).

posted December 15, 2016 10:11 AM            

What are "passwords in clear text"?

It must be a mass mailing to all users and a warning we should heed..

posted March 25, 2017 01:18 PM            

'A rose by any other name....'

AND, for the selfish ones -- 'Mean People Suck!'

I remember watching the Olympics a few years ago. They had a musical fantasy segment where they splayed their history ...

I have a deep Love of the Russian Soul. The regular people (NOT THE POLITICIANS) have been through soooo much suffering at the hands of their OWN governmental officials. I have the hardest time imagining that people want to be cruel 'on purpose' and just for the hell of it! These have no 'skin' invested in the game. 'Something' is just WRONG with that????

I must have had past lives there? .....
Their music, and their Talent, has a spirit of Excellence. Such stirring intensity and Passion!

If any country could take that kind of energy, and apply it to the General Good?, what a World this could turn out to be!

And as I've said in other posts--- WAR becomes 'personal' when it's your buddy, your kin, or your community that gets directly affected.

I think wars get generated from the Narcissistic EGOs of deeply selfish and self-centered rich spoiled politicians. ....

I say, send them up in a spaceship to MARS, or the MOON!!! LOL. Or take them into an enclosed-space PERSONALLY to duke it out with each other, and stop making OTHER regular people fight THEIR battles with OUR Blood?

When politicians ACTUALLY FEEL the direct physical consequence and brunt of the harm they would choice for another, ... then perhaps they'll make more cautious and more Humane decisions for the Good of ALL regular people.

We ALL, deep down, want the same things-- to live in good shelter, in Peace. Be able have enough food, comforts. Enjoy nourishing our selves, our children, the ones we Love.

Those with MORE than what they need and can use for themselves NEED to Share. And Politicians should NOT block that Progress.... and in some nations, block the Humanitarian efforts of others to feed and supply their OWN people!

I am remembering an old wisdom tale...
A mother who gives a whole cake to one child, then asks the other child to cut the cake in two. The first-mentioned child gets 'First Pick' to choose which half they get. Old story about how "evenly" those pieces can be apportioned.

Anyways.... Maybe I have a Vision and Love of the World, with a Force within me that longs for everyone to 'just get along' and yearns for having a more Utopian Peace some day... Some Fine Day.

God, Help Us get along with each other, before we would destroy ALL that we have as Human Inhabitants.