Important Yahoo warning - close down any Yahoo accounts you have NOW!

Yahoo just announced another security breach where a whopping billion accounts were hacked. This is the second time in a matter of months that Yahoo has announced a security breach - what an epic fail! This latest hack is being hailed the largest in history, according to CNBC (source).

The forensic investigation is still going on, but it is highly likely that the bad guys initially got in through a spear phishing attack with a spoofed 'From' address. These types of attacks are hard to spot and employees tend to fall for them. 

At this point, Yahoo has fallen down on security in so many ways that we are now advising all our clients who have an active Yahoo email account, either direct with Yahoo of via a partner like AT&T, get rid of it. And in case you have employees who check their Yahoo account on lunch breaks... it's time to put Yahoo on the block list of your firewall and all filtering software & devices.

Here's some hints and tips for Yahoo account owners....

1. Before you delete the account, get rid of all the folders and only then delete the account and open a free gmail account instead.
2. Check if you have used your Yahoo password in other sites, and change the password and security questions for those accounts. And remember, never reuse your email password (or any other password tied to an account that holds sensitive data about you) at any other site.
3. If you used a mobile phone number in association with your Yahoo account, and you still use that mobile phone number, then SMS phishing (a.k.a. Smishing) is now a distinct possibility, so be very wary of this.

This is what you should do if your Yahoo account was hacked.

The company said on Thursday at least 500 million user accounts were affected by a massive data breach. The hack happened in 2014, when "state-sponsored actor" stole account information, including names, emails, passwords, telephone numbers and answers to some security questions.

So what should you do if you have a Yahoo account?

First and foremost, you'll want to change your password immediately. All Yahoo account holders should also change their security questions and answers.

If your account is one Yahoo suspects was compromised, you'll be prompted to enter a new password as soon as you log on. If you used the same password on other accounts, change those, too.

Here are other steps to take to secure your online accounts.

Change passwords often
Yahoo is asking anyone who hasn't changed their password since 2014 to update it. This is good advice for everyone: Passwords should be changed often. You won't always get a timely notice from a company that an account was compromised -- and sometimes it might not even know about a hack until much later. In this case, it took two years for the company to confirm the breach.

Never use the same password twice
If hackers get the password for one of your online accounts, they can try to use it to access your other accounts that take the same credentials.

Pick better passwords
Consider using a phrase instead of single words that are more easily guessed. Don't go for common phrases like cliches: Pick a combination of words that don't go together -- i.e. rather than "herecomesthesun," go for something like "waterfiresnowsunshine".

Avoid using common passwords like 1-2-3-4-5-6 or p-a-s-s-w-o-r-d, and include a mixture of numbers, letters and characters.

Use a password manager
Since strong unique passwords are a huge pain to memorize, try a password manager like 1Password or LastPass. These platforms generate and store passwords and security answers for every account you have, so you only have to remember a single master password.

Update those security questions
If you forget a password, using security questions is an easy way to gain access back into your own account -- its not like you'll ever forget your mom's maiden name. But some Yahoo security answers and questions were a part of the breach. The company has already disabled any unencrypted security answers on its accounts.

If you frequently use the same security questions and answers for other online accounts, you'll want to change those, as well. Attackers could use the information taken from Yahoo to obtain access to other online accounts that contain even more sensitive information.

Avoid choosing the obvious questions and don't provide answers that are easy to find online through Google searches or social media sites.

Be alert
The company is urging users to look through their Yahoo accounts (email, calendar, groups, etc.) for any signs of suspicious activity. Although it doesn't say what to look for, start by checking outgoing emails.

Be extra careful about clicking on links or opening downloads from unknown email addresses. If anyone emails asking for your password, it's a red flag -- even if it looks like it's coming from a legitimate place like Yahoo or a bank. Never share any account information or passwords over email.

Turn on two-factor authentication
On its own, a password isn't a strong line of defense. Adding a second type of authentication, like a one-time code sent over text message or generated by an app, can greatly secure your online accounts.

Yahoo is recommending people turn on its two-factor authentication tool: Yahoo Account Key. It even eliminates the need to memorize a Yahoo password.

If you use the Yahoo Android or iOS app, log in to your account, go to your profile and select Account Key. You can also set it up in a web browser. Each time you try to access your account, Yahoo will send a confirmation to your phone.

While it's certainly an extra step, make it a part of your daily routine. Next time there's a story about a massive data breach, you'll be glad you did.

Yahoo raising security concerns for 'recycling" old e-mail addresses.

Yahoo has announced a plan to "recycle" old e-mail addresses, a move meant to free up accounts for folks who want them but that has sparked privacy concerns.

In a blog post, senior vice president Jay Rossiter announced that Yahoo e-mail accounts that have been dormant for more than a year will be reset so that active users can have access to them.

"If you're like me, you want a Yahoo! ID that's short, sweet, and memorable like albert@yahoo.com instead of albert9330399@yahoo.com," he wrote.

 

The one-year period will officially begin July 15, when users can "claim" a dormant account name. They'll find out in mid-August if they got the account they wanted.

 

It's clearly an effort by Yahoo, which has been working to redefine and rejuvenate itself under new CEO Marissa Mayer, to re-engage older users and reward active ones. But it has security experts nervous.

 

Security analyst Graham Cluley doesn't mince words.

 

"In short: as an idea it sucks, and it shows Yahoo's lack of respect to customers who created accounts with them in years gone by," Cluley wrote Wednesday.

 

Cluley lists several scenarios where the plan could backfire. They include situations in which a user has another primary e-mail account, but has given their Yahoo address as a backup in case of security situations, lost passwords and the like.

 

He said the move appears to be "an underhanded way to get people to re-engage with the site" and that people who may not actively use their Yahoo mail, but use it to store old messages and other documents, could lose them without ever realizing it.

 

Mat Honan of CNN content partner Wired, himself the recent victim of a high-profile hack, called the move "a spectacularly bad idea."

 

In the wake of such complaints, Yahoo released a followup statement saying it's sure the transition can be made without compromising security.

 

"We're committed and confident in our ability to do this in a way that's safe, secure and protects our users' data," the company said.

 

The vast majority of inactive Yahoo IDs don't have a mailbox associated with them, the company said, and any personal data associated with the accounts will be deleted.

 

During a 30-day deactivation period, bounce-back e-mails will alert senders that the deactivated account no longer exists and Yahoo will unsubscribe those accounts from newsletters, commercial e-mail alerts and the like.

 

Businesses, financial institutions, social networks and other e-mail providers will be sent notifications about e-mail addresses that have been deactivated.

 

Source: CNN

17 year old makes $30 million from selling his company to Yahoo.

Yahoo announced today that it has acquired Summly, a mobile news aggregation app from British entrepreneur Nick D'Aloisio.

D'Aloisio is only 17-years-old. When he started Summly, he was only 15.

Summly scans the Web for news and uses an algorithm to find the type of content you want to read. Then it summarizes it for you.

Yahoo is going to shut down Summly as a stand alone app, but it says it's going to incorporate Summly technology into its own mobile apps and sites.

Clearly, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wanted to hire D'Aloisio. She has been making a lot of small acquisitions like Summly. She wants to bring young, fresh, mobile-focused talent to Yahoo.

Humorously, Aaron Levie, CEO of cloud storage company Box, notes on Twitter that D'Aloisio was born after Yahoo was founded.

There was no price announced with the deal. However, All Things D reporter Kara Swisher says Yahoo paid just under $30 million. The app generated no revenue.

According to Crunchbase, Summly has raised $1.53 million in venture funding from an impressive list of investors.

 

Hong Kong billionaire businessman Li Ka-shing put $300,000 in the company in September of 2011.

A year later, the rest of the money came from people like Brian Chesky, the CEO and founder of AirBnb, Mark Pincus, the founder and CEO of Zynga, Ashton Kutcher, Yoko Ono, Wendy Murdoch, and a few other big names in tech.

When Steve Jobs opened the iPhone's App Store, Nick D'Aloisio was only 12-years-old.

D'Aloisio taught himself how to make an app. Three years later he launched his own startup, Trimit, which truncated a news story into 140 characters for people that wanted to tweet out stories.

He realized people didn't want to truncate the news. They wanted the news truncated for them. So, he flipped the app and made Summly.

Previously it was reported Summly only had 500,000 downloads, which is not much for an app. D'Aloisio says Summly has had "90 million summaries read," whatever that metric means.

Here's the release from Yahoo announcing the deal:

Today, we’re excited to share that we’re acquiring Summly, a mobile product company founded with a vision to simplify the way we get information, making it faster, easier and more concise.

At the age of 15, Nick D’Aloisio created the Summly app at his home in London. It started with an insight -- that we live in a world of constant information and need new ways to simplify how we find the stories that are important to us, at a glance. Mobile devices are shifting our daily routines, and users have changed not only what, but how much information they consume. Yet most articles and web pages were formatted for browsing with mouse clicks. The ability to skim them on a phone or a tablet can be a real challenge -- we want easier ways to identify what’s important to us.

Summly solves this by delivering snapshots of stories, giving you a simple and elegant way to find the news you want, faster than ever before. For publishers, the Summly technology provides a new approach to drive interest in stories and reach a generation of mobile users that want information on the go.

Nick and the Summly team are joining Yahoo! in the coming weeks. While the Summly app will close, you will see the technology come to life throughout Yahoo!’s mobile experiences soon. So stay tuned!

Mobile devices are at the center of how we engage with the people, experiences and interests we love. Across Yahoo!, we’re focused on creating beautiful experiences that people are excited to use every day -- products that inspire and delight. We can’t wait to work with Nick and the Summly team to do just that.

And here's Summly's announcement:

In true Summly fashion, I will keep this short and sweet.

I am delighted to announce Summly has signed an agreement to be acquired by Yahoo!. Our vision is to simplify how we get information and we are thrilled to continue this mission with Yahoo!'s global scale and expertise. After spending some time on campus, I discovered that Yahoo! has an inspirational goal to make people's daily routines entertaining and meaningful, and mobile will be a central part of that vision. For us, it's the perfect fit.

When I founded Summly at 15, I would have never imagined being in this position so suddenly. I'd personally like to thank Li Ka-Shing and Horizons Ventures for having the foresight to back a teenager pursuing his dream. Also to our investors, advisors and of course the fantastic team for believing in the potential of Summly. Without you all, this never would have been possible. I'd also like to thank my family, friends and school for supporting me.

Most importantly, thank you to our wonderful users who have helped contribute to us receiving Apple's Best Apps of 2012 award for Intuitive Touch! We will be removing Summly from the App Store today but expect our summarization technology will soon return to multiple Yahoo! products - see this as a ‘power nap' so to speak.

With over 90 million summaries read in just a few short months, this is just the beginning for our technology. As we move towards a more refined, liberated and intelligent mobile web, summaries will continue to help navigate through our ever expanding information universe.

Sincerely,

Nick
Founder

Source: Business Insider