Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

If you’ve ever created a Yahoo account, take these steps immediately to protect your data

It’s not just your Yahoo account that’s vulnerable.

Marissa Mayer Delivers Keynote At Yahoo Mobile Developers Conference
Marissa Mayer Delivers Keynote At Yahoo Mobile Developers Conference
Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images

If you’ve ever signed up for an account with Yahoo, there’s cause for concern. The company confirmed today, after Recode broke the story last night, that 500 million user accounts were breached in a massive hack.

That’s larger than the population of the United States and Mexico combined.

Yahoo says the attack likely included email addresses, passwords, names and phone numbers — not payment card data or bank account information.

But our email accounts are packed with personal information. We send people we trust our account details for all kinds of services over email, and whether it’s as benign as a Netflix password or as potentially devastating as a pornography website login or credit card number, we expect our email accounts to be password-protected and private.

If you have a Yahoo account, here’s what you should do.

Change all your passwords

Not just your Yahoo account. Make a list of all the online accounts where you store sensitive information. Update all your passwords to make them long and strong. Be sure to give each separate account a unique password, too. No repeats.

The best way to keep track of all your new passwords is with a password manager, which stores all your account details in an encrypted vault on your smartphone and your desktop. You can find some great free or extremely cheap ones online. Do some digging and find an option that works best for you.

Review old emails, delete sensitive content and disconnect accounts

If your Yahoo account information is indeed for sale, someone can hack into your email and find information you’d rather keep locked safe. Search your emails for sensitive correspondence, delete liberally and empty the trash folder.

Then visit the account settings of services you’ve connected to your Yahoo account and disconnect them immediately.

Switch to Gmail or use encryption

Gmail is endorsed by security researchers for being a secure service that most people can trust. If you want an airtight layer of protection, you can always setup a PGP key so only the intended recipient can decrypt your emails.

Enable two-factor authentication for all accounts and update apps

If you want to log in to your accounts, you should be able to verify you’re the one trying to log in and not someone else. That means employing more than just an easily sharable password to authenticate your login attempt.

Most services offer the option to text a code to a phone number on file for your account so only a person with both your password and your cellphone can access. Make sure all your apps and services are fully updated to take advantage of any recent security improvements.

Don’t open shady emails

Hackers often try to bait people into opening emails or attachments that may contain malware. Don’t open the email if you’re unsure. And if you do open an email and then decide it might be a hacker, do not open the attachments. Delete it.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh