What this Yahoo data breach means for you

On Thursday afternoon Yahoo confirmed a massive data leak of at least 500 million user accounts, which is a verybig deal.

Though the data breach obviously spells trouble for those with YahooMail accounts, users with hacked accounts need to keep in mind that the breach goes so much further.

Yahoo owns a bunch of other major sites like Flickr, Tumblr and fantasy football site Rivals.com, which means the 500 million users affected by the data breach also have to worry about their personal information associated with all additional Yahoo services.

SEE ALSO:If you use any Yahoo services, here's what to do following the massive breach

Yahoo officially confirmed the data breach via a statement on its website, giving users an overview of exactly which personal credentials could have been impacted.

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Through Yahoo's ongoing investigation, the company has uncovered that stolen user account information may have included the following:

• Names

• Email addresses

• Telephone numbers

• Dates of birth

• Hashed passwords

• Security questions and answers (encrypted or unencrypted)

According to PetaPixel, Yahoo switched Flickr over to a system based solely on Yahoo accounts in 2014, which means passwords and personal information from the popular photo management and sharing application are now compromised.

Yahoo owns Tumblr, which it bought in 2014 for $990 million, and Rivals.com, acquired for $100 million back in 2007. The company has not confirmed that Tumblr or Rivals users have been affected by the hack, but due to the link to Yahoo, it would be worth updating your password and following these steps to improve your security.

"The good news is it appears that the Yahoo system that was compromised did not contain credit card data, but as many people use their email addresses for managing other accounts, those accounts could also be in harm's way," John Peterson, the vice president & general manager of computer security company Comodo Enterprise, told Mashablein an email.

"Bottom line, if you have a Yahoo account -- any Yahoo account -- change your password and security questions now and keep an eye on your other accounts for any suspicious activity."

TopicsCybersecurityYahoo

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