Yahoo hack: what to do to protect your account

Users should log in to their account, change their password, as well as check for any signs of misuse

If you have a Yahoo account, it's imperative you act quickly to ensure it, and your other internet services, are secured.

Information including names, addresses, secret answers and passwords was stolen from Yahoo at some point in late 2014 and showed up for sale on the dark web in August this year. Yahoo says the "vast majority" of passwords were secured using an algorithm called bcrypt, which renders it impractically expensive for an attacker to try to break, but the company has not given any way of checking which passwords were in the minority not protected that way. Until they do, you should assume your password is unprotected, and act accordingly.