Yahoo confirms over 450,000 passwords at risk after massive hacking attack

Is your Yahoo password safe? Does anyone still use Yahoo? Well if you do then you should be on your guard as potentially 450,000 passwords are at risk after a hacking attack.

The attack happened after hackers stolen and then posted a file online which contained around 450,000 usernames and passwords - likely to be combinations used across the internet for multiple logins rather than just on Yahoo.

"The hackers claimed to have stolen the passwords using a hacking technique called an SQL injection, which exploits a software vulnerability," reports The Times. "The breach comes just one month after LinkedIn, the online social network for professionals, had millions of user passwords exposed after hackers breached its systems.

Tonight Yahoo have confirmed the hack attack but have moved to assure users that they are likely to be unharmed by the incident as just "less than 5 per cent of the Yahoo accounts had valid passwords".

"We confirm that an older file from Yahoo Contributor Network... containing approximately 450,000 Yahoo and other company users' names and passwords was compromised yesterday," said Yahoo tonight.

"Of these, less than 5% of the Yahoo accounts had valid passwords. We are taking immediate action by fixing the vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data, changing the passwords of the affected Yahoo users and notifying the companies whose users accounts may have been compromised."

Our recommendation? If you're worried, begin the arduous process tonight of changing your passwords all over again.