Yahoo continues to fail its customers -starting when its user data was hacked about three years ago. When another devastating breach was reported on September 22nd, 2016, impacting 500 million accounts, it was later estimated to reach a billion.
Here are some Cybersecurity Best Practices for Yahoo users (and great advice for any other account you own):
If you have a Yahoo account, you should automatically assume that your information has already been compromised and should take the steps below.
1. Immediately change your password to something more secure.
If you haven’t already, visit Yahoo’s Password Reset page.
When changing your password, instead of using a phrase you’ve used elsewhere, use a secure password generator.
2. Secure your account by using two-factor authentication.
Waiting on a text for an account code to login can sometimes be frustrating, but every layer of security you add will further decrease the probability that your information will be compromised.
3. Ensure your security questions are indeed secure.
When creating security questions, ask yourself the following:
Can this information be found through my social media?
ie Hometown, Favorite Movie, Favorite Historical Figure
Can someone run a background check to obtain this information?
ie First Street Name or Address, List of Relatives, Place of Birth
Can any relatable data be found through a Google search?
ie High School Graduated From, Year of Graduation
If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions, you need to increase the difficulty of your security questions.
Note For Yahoo users: this isn’t currently something that can be modified because Yahoo has removed the security question feature. This was one of the main methods of exploit used by the hackers.