Huge data breach affects millions of Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo Mail accounts

Reuters is reporting today, May 4, 2016 that hundreds of millions of stolen email addresses, account names and passwords have been stolen, and are now being sold or traded in the worldwide cybercrime community.

The discovery, made by US-based Hold Security, indicates that over 270 million accounts are known stolen. Most of those belong to users of a Russian email service. But tens of millions of Gmail, Microsoft Hotmail and Outlook.com, and Yahoo email are known to be among the stolen data. We don’t know how old some or all of the stolen data might be, but Hold Security became aware of this after researching client data breaches and identifying a Russian hacker bragging about having a billion stolen credentials. That the stolen data was being used successfully suggests that at least some of the information is relatively new (or that people don’t change their passwords regularly or at all).

If you are using a Gmail.com, Hotmail.com, Outlook.com or Yahoo.com email account, we would suggest that you change your password(s) NOW.

Ideally that would be a password not being used by you anywhere else. Sophisticated cyber criminals are now cross-checking credentials and assuming (often correctly) that, for example, your Gmail account password might be the same as your company network login or your online banking password. So if they steal one password from one account, and can guess or have stolen other email addresses or accounts of yours, use of a common password could provide access to every other account identified as yours that shares the same password. Use unique passwords.

For online sites that have two-factor authentication available, now would be a good time to start using it if you aren’t already. Two-factor authentication requires an additional confirmation step (like entering a code texted to your smart phone), in order for anyone to login to a device, use an account, make a purchase, change a password, etc.

Don’t know how to change your password on the affected sites? Here’s how…

For Gmail. Sign into your account >> Sign-in & Security >> Signing Into Google - Password >> type in current password >> type in new password, and confirm >> Change Password.

For Hotmail / Outlook.com . Sign in to your account >> click on your profile image >> Account Settings >> Security and Privacy >> >> Change Password >> type in current password and new password.

For Yahoo Mail. Sign in to your Yahoo account >> Account Security >> Change Password >> type in and confirm new password >> Confirm >> Continue.

If you have trouble with changing passwords, think you may have already been breached, or have questions about password or network security, feel free to contact us at Comprehensive Data Services, 419-534-2374, or itsupport@cdstoledo.com