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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/23/bt-broadband-yahoo-hack
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| Millions of BT and Sky Broadband customers could be affected by Yahoo hack | Millions of BT and Sky Broadband customers could be affected by Yahoo hack |
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| Millions of BT and Sky customers are affected by the hack of half a billion Yahoo accounts, thanks to the internet service providers’ decisions to outsource their webmail hosting to the Californian technology firm, which revealed on Thursday that it was hacked in 2014. | |
| Despite updating a help page to warn customers that “if you haven’t changed your password since 2014 we recommend you change it now,” BT has yet to directly notify users whether their account is affected, nor does its help page explain that the reason why it recommends changing passwords is because it has been indirectly affected by the hack. Sky Broadband customers are presented with a warning when they visit Sky.com headlined “keeping your email account safe.” | Despite updating a help page to warn customers that “if you haven’t changed your password since 2014 we recommend you change it now,” BT has yet to directly notify users whether their account is affected, nor does its help page explain that the reason why it recommends changing passwords is because it has been indirectly affected by the hack. Sky Broadband customers are presented with a warning when they visit Sky.com headlined “keeping your email account safe.” |
| “A minority of BT Broadband customers have a legacy email product from Yahoo,” a BT spokesperson told the Guardian. The company declined to say how big a minority was affected, but with 7m accounts nationwide, the number could well be in the millions. | “A minority of BT Broadband customers have a legacy email product from Yahoo,” a BT spokesperson told the Guardian. The company declined to say how big a minority was affected, but with 7m accounts nationwide, the number could well be in the millions. |
| The spokesperson added: “We advise customers generally to reset their password regularly and we will be contacting affected customers specifically to help them keep their information safe.” | The spokesperson added: “We advise customers generally to reset their password regularly and we will be contacting affected customers specifically to help them keep their information safe.” |
| Sky recommends subscribers who use Sky Yahoo Mail to change their password to keep their accounts safe, and has also set up a help page for customers. The company did not respond immediately to a request for comment. | Sky recommends subscribers who use Sky Yahoo Mail to change their password to keep their accounts safe, and has also set up a help page for customers. The company did not respond immediately to a request for comment. |
| If BT Broadband customers – anyone with an email address ending @btinternet.com, @btopenworld.com or @talk21.com counts – aren’t sure whether they have a Yahoo webmail account, the company has released a tool to check. Affected customers should change their webmail password, as well as that on any service that used the same one. They should also rethink their usage of any security questions which are shared with the webmail account, since that information also leaked. | If BT Broadband customers – anyone with an email address ending @btinternet.com, @btopenworld.com or @talk21.com counts – aren’t sure whether they have a Yahoo webmail account, the company has released a tool to check. Affected customers should change their webmail password, as well as that on any service that used the same one. They should also rethink their usage of any security questions which are shared with the webmail account, since that information also leaked. |
| It’s not just BT customers who may be surprised to learn they have a Yahoo account. Users, or former users, of the photo sharing service Flickr will also have one, if have they logged in since 15 March 2007. And former users of the social bookmarking service Del.icio.us, now independent of Yahoo, may also have a Yahoo ID if they joined that site after 2011. | It’s not just BT customers who may be surprised to learn they have a Yahoo account. Users, or former users, of the photo sharing service Flickr will also have one, if have they logged in since 15 March 2007. And former users of the social bookmarking service Del.icio.us, now independent of Yahoo, may also have a Yahoo ID if they joined that site after 2011. |
| One service that has apparently dodged a bullet is the social network Tumblr. Despite being part of Yahoo since its acquisition in 2013, the site still maintains its own login system. There are no indications Tumblr’s database was exfiltrated back when Yahoo’s was. The company was, however, hacked shortly before it was bought by Yahoo, a fact it admitted earlier this year. | One service that has apparently dodged a bullet is the social network Tumblr. Despite being part of Yahoo since its acquisition in 2013, the site still maintains its own login system. There are no indications Tumblr’s database was exfiltrated back when Yahoo’s was. The company was, however, hacked shortly before it was bought by Yahoo, a fact it admitted earlier this year. |