FBI investigates Yahoo data breach

LONDON: Data including the names and passwords of more than 500 million Yahoo users was stolen by hackers in what may have been a “state-sponsored” programme, the tech giant confirmed on Thursday.

A security breach in 2014, thought to be the largest online data theft, saw information relating to at least half-a-billion user accounts stolen.

On Thursday, the scale of the operation was revealed by Yahoo as it said law enforcement agencies were investigating the breach.

Information stolen could include names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, encrypted passwords and encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.

Yahoo stressed that credit card data wasn’t obtained, but urged users who have not changed their passwords since 2014 to do so, and to look out for any suspicious activity.

In a statement, the firm appeared to point the finger at foreign governments after confirming the breach was far bigger than first thought.

“Online intrusions and thefts by state-sponsored actors have become increasingly common across the technology industry,” a spokesman said.

“Yahoo and other companies have launched programmes to detect and notify users when a company strongly suspects that a state-sponsored actor has targeted an account.

“The investigation has found no evidence that the state-sponsored actor is currently in Yahoo’s network.”

Last month, a hacker known as “Peace” was seemingly found to be attempting to sell information relating to 200 million Yahoo accounts.

The tech giant’s comments were its first confirmation of the breach, and come after a report earlier this year quoting a security researcher saying about 200 million accounts