Free Privileged Account Discovery Tool: Identify & secure credentials to stop lateral movement. Download Free

BeyondTrust
  • Products
    Privileged Password Management
    Discover, manage, audit, and monitor privileged accounts
    Password Safe DevOps Secrets Safe
    Endpoint Privilege Management
    Manage privileges on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix endpoints
    Windows and Mac Unix and Linux Active Directory Bridge
    Secure Remote Access
    Centrally manage and secure remote access for service desks and vendors
    Remote Support Privileged Remote Access
    BeyondInsight Analytics
    See All Solutions
  • Resources

    Universal Privilege Management

    Our innovative Universal Privilege Management approach secures every user, asset, and session across your entire enterprise.

    Watch Video

    Learn

    Case Studies
    Competitor Comparisons
    Datasheets
    Glossary
    Product Demos
    Whitepapers

    Attend

    Events
    Go Beyond
    Training
    Webinars

    Support

    Changelog
    Professional Services
    Technical Documentation
  • Blog
  • Partners
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Services
  • Training
  • Events
  • Company

Yahoo’d Again? One Billion Affected by Yahoo Hack

December 15, 2016

  • Blog
  • Archive

Yahoo Hack

It has only been a few months since Yahoo announced the largest data breach to date of over of 500 million accounts. Since then, forensics experts have been combing through logs at Yahoo and discovered 1 billion (yes with a B) accounts where compromised in 2013, allegedly by a state sponsored attack that modified web browser cookies to infiltrate the backend of Yahoo and impersonate accounts. This by far is the largest breach ever – stealing everything from passwords to birthdates to unencrypted security questions. It has taken 3 years to identify the incident and it only was identified due to pressure Yahoo received after the last breach. As shocking as it may sound, the malicious activity linked to this breach is now way behind us and the data could be used for present, future, or past attacks. Outside of the humiliation for Yahoo security, the anger of its customers, and the pending deal for Verizon, what can the average person do to ensure that a 3-year-old breach does not come back and haunt them? Here are a few simple but prudent tips:

  • Do not re-use passwords for work, home, banks or social media accounts. If one password is compromised (i.e. Yahoo), it can be used at other web sites to compromise you integrity. Use unique passwords for everything and never the same ones for work and home.
  • Avoid social media games that ask personal questions. Facebook games and posts that ask you to share what city where you born in and what is your first car was are a dead ringer for common security questions. If you answer them, you potentially are sharing your security questions with everyone. These can be used to reset passwords through common steps like “Forgot Your Password”. If your mail account is compromised too, then this is an easy hack to reset your password to impersonate your account.
  • Turn on two factor authentication for signing into websites from new devices. If the web service offers to send you a code via email or even text to validate a new logon, use it. While SMS texting has been proven to be less than secure, and not recommended by security experts, it still provides a better security layer than just a traditional username and password. More complex two factor authentication is always preferred but a simple extra step can stop a hacker from re-using your compromised credentials.
  • Vigilance. While financial records are the obvious goal of most attacks, medical records, and other sources of data can be just as valuable. Fraudulent billing, white plastic credit cards, and even phishing attacks can result from compromised data. Keep an eye on all your financial accounts, medical records and bills, and suspicious emails. Once your data is out there, linking it to all important information is trivial and simple symptoms can reveal if you’re are victim of identity theft.
While the Yahoo breach is shocking, and almost feels like old news since it happened again, we need to learn basic steps to prevent this incident from personally affecting consumers and businesses. If we can change our own basic behaviors like re-using passwords and not sharing personal information on social media, we can mitigate the threats this type of travesty has on all of us. If you have any questions, contact our security experts now. And if you have a Yahoo account, here's the security notice.

Morey J. Haber, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at BeyondTrust

Morey J. Haber is Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at BeyondTrust. He has more than 25 years of IT industry experience and has authored four Apress books: Privileged Attack Vectors (2 Editions), Asset Attack Vectors, and Identity Attack Vectors. In 2018, Bomgar acquired BeyondTrust and retained the BeyondTrust name. He originally joined BeyondTrust in 2012 as a part of the eEye Digital Security acquisition. Morey currently oversees BeyondTrust strategy for privileged access management and remote access solutions. In 2004, he joined eEye as Director of Security Engineering and was responsible for strategic business discussions and vulnerability management architectures in Fortune 500 clients. Prior to eEye, he was Development Manager for Computer Associates, Inc. (CA), responsible for new product beta cycles and named customer accounts. He began his career as Reliability and Maintainability Engineer for a government contractor building flight and training simulators. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Stay Up To Date

Get the latest news, ideas, and tactics from BeyondTrust. You may unsubscribe at any time.

I agree to receive product related communications from BeyondTrust as detailed in the Privacy Policy, and I may manage my preferences or withdraw my consent at any time.

You May Also Be Interested In:

Whitepapers

A Zero Trust Approach to Secure Access

Webcasts

Rising CISOs: Ransomware, Cyber Extortion, Cloud Compromise, oh my!

Whitepapers

A Zero Trust Approach to Windows & Mac Endpoint Security

BeyondTrust Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Keep up with BeyondTrust

I agree to receive product related communications from BeyondTrust as detailed in the Privacy Policy, and I may manage my preferences or withdraw my consent at any time.

Customer Support
Contact Sales

Products

  • Endpoint Privilege Management
  • Password Management
  • Privileged Remote Access
  • DevOps Secrets Safe
  • Remote Support

Resources

  • Blog
  • Case Studies
  • Competitor Comparisons
  • Datasheets
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Webcasts
  • Whitepapers

About

  • Company
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Leadership Team
  • Partner Program
  • Press

Languages

  • English
  • German
  • French
  • Spanish
  • Korean
  • Portuguese
  • Japanese
  • Privacy
  • Security
  • Manage Cookies
  • WEEE Compliance

Copyright © 1999 — 2020 BeyondTrust Corporation. All rights reserved. Other trademarks identified on this page are owned by their respective owners. BeyondTrust Corporation is not a chartered bank or trust company, or depository institution. It is not authorized to accept deposits or trust accounts and is not licensed or regulated by any state or federal banking authority.