It’s time to protect or delete your Yahoo account, as the company confirms second hack in one year. The internet company has revealed on Wednesday, December 14th, that at least 1 billion user accounts may have been compromised in a security breach that has occurred back in 2013.
This is in addition to the 500 million user accounts that have been compromised during an attack that took place in 2014, and Yahoo announced back in September.
Among the stolen information, hackers might’ve been able to obtain names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, unencrypted security questions and answers.
If you haven’t changed your password or security question in a long time, now it could be a good time to do so. In addition, the company is recommending to enable two-factor authentication, and update any other account you may have that uses similar information you used on your Yahoo account.
In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to change your password, set up two-factor authentication, or delete your Yahoo account completely.
- How to change, recover, or reset your Yahoo password
- How to set up two-factor authentication on your Yahoo account
- How to close your Yahoo account
How to change, recover, or reset your Yahoo password
To change, recovery, or reset your password, do the following:
- Go to the Yahoo Account Info page.
- tap the Menu icon (Mobile web browser only).
- Click Account Security.
- Click Change password.
- Enter and confirm your new password.
- Click Continue, and a confirmation appears.
- Click Continue to complete the task.
How to set up two-factor authentication on your Yahoo account
To enable two-step verification on your account, do the following:
Go to the Yahoo Account Info page.
tap the Menu icon (Mobile web browser only).
Click Account Security.
Click Change password.
Enter and confirm your new password.
Click Continue, and a confirmation appears.
Click Continue to complete the task.
- Sign in to your Yahoo Account info page.
- Click Account security.
- Under “Two-step verification,” click the On/Off icon.
- Enter your phone number.
- Enabling two-step verification requires to verify your phone number. Click Send SMS to receive a text message with an Account Key, or Call me to receive a phone call with your code.
- Enter the verification code.
- Click Verify to complete the task.
How to delete your Yahoo account
Yahoo actually makes it very easy to close/delete your account:
Sign in to your Yahoo Account info page.
Click Account security.
Under “Two-step verification,” click the On/Off icon.
Enter your phone number.
Enabling two-step verification requires to verify your phone number. Click Send SMS to receive a text message with an Account Key, or Call me to receive a phone call with your code.
Enter the verification code.
Click Verify to complete the task.
- Sing in to your Yahoo Mail account. Use phone verification as necessary.
- Head over to the Terminating your Yahoo account page. If you use a phone number to sign in, visit this page instead.
- Scroll down to the end of the page, confirm your password.
- Click Terminate this Account to complete the task.
For more information, you can also refer to this Yahoo support page.
Sing in to your Yahoo Mail account. Use phone verification as necessary.
Head over to the Terminating your Yahoo account page. If you use a phone number to sign in, visit this page instead.
Scroll down to the end of the page, confirm your password.
Click Terminate this Account to complete the task.
Yahoo is trying to reach to customers via email, but the company warns of possible phishing emails trying to impersonate Yahoo. However, you should know that typically, phishing emails will ask you to click a link, and Yahoo’s email won’t and they will not include any attachment either.
