I did a search but didn't see this come up. I think it needs to be shared to give everyone a "heads-up"!
news.yahoo.com...
NEW YORK (AP) — Usernames and passwords of some of Yahoo's email customers have been stolen and used to gather personal information about people
those Yahoo mail users have recently corresponded with, the company said Thursday.
"It's an old trend, but it's much more exaggerated now because the programs the bad guys use are much more sophisticated now," says Avivah Litan, a
security analyst at the technology research firm Gartner. "We're clearly under attack."
Yahoo Inc. said in a blog post on its breach that "The information sought in the attack seems to be names and email addresses from the affected
accounts' most recent sent emails."
That could mean hackers were looking for additional email addresses to send spam or scam messages. By grabbing real names from those sent folders,
hackers could try to make bogus messages appear more legitimate to recipients.
Here we go again! Our personal information stolen by hackers. No one is safe anymore it seems!
Yahoo! says the danger that comes from hackers getting your e-mail password is that many people use the same one for most all of their other accounts;
banking, shopping, etc.
If the hackers can get your e-mail address and password, they can send you a message that looks like it is from a legitimate site that you have
shopped before, then when you click on a link in that message... BOOM... they can get into your computer and have all your personal information!
Here are some helpful tips everyone should follow:
I don't click on links in ANY e-mail unless it is from a family member sharing pictures, or something.
And when I pay for any on-line shopping, I use Pay Pal or Alert Pay. That way my bank information isn't on any of the store computer data bases.
Just be safe with how you give out your personal information online, and NEVER trust a link in a message unless you KNOW who the sender is.
If you can't get a pay pal account, or an account at one of your choice, be sure when you go to pay for your purchase on an online store, there is a
"lock" showing in the address bar. This shows it is a secure site. Otherwise, your banking information can be grabbed while in transit to the store
you're paying by hackers.
Change your password on a monthly basis, if not more often.
Be safe... and smart!
I hope the information I've shared has helped someone to avoid becoming a victim of the useless pieces of trash out there that prey on those who
actually work for what they earn.
I'm going right now (as soon as I leave ATS) to change my e-mail passwords!!
edit on 2/1/2014 by sled735 because: add comment