Information about account compromise issue, July 11, 2012

How to know if you were affected by the account compromise issue.

At Yahoo! we take security very seriously and invest heavily in protective measures to ensure the security of our users and their data across all our products. We confirm that an older file from Yahoo! Contributor Network (previously Associated Content) containing approximately 450,000 Yahoo! and other company user names and passwords was compromised July 11th.  Of these, less than 5% of the Yahoo! accounts had valid passwords.

We are taking immediate action to fix the vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data. If your account is one of the affected user names, you will be required to verify your account information to regain access to your account. If you’re not prompted to verify your account information, your user name and password were not compromised.

After you sign in, you’ll be required to:

• Verify the answer to your secret question or
• Receive a verification code to your alternate email address or mobile number (if you have provided us one)

Please log into your account to verify your account information. If you’re unable to reset your password successfully, please contact Customer Care.