Yahoo confirms 400,000 user accounts stolen by hackers

 SAN FRANCISCO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Yahoo on Thursday confirmed that hackers¹ had stolen around 400,000 account credentials² from its computer system.

In a statement to technology blog TechCrunch, Yahoo said that " approximately 400,000 Yahoo! and other company users' names and passwords" were stolen on July 11.

The company said it is fixing the vulnerability that led to the theft, changing passwords of affected³ users and notifying the companies whose user accounts may have been compromised. But it did not reveal the exact number of the compromised accounts or identify those other companies affected.

Late Wednesday, a hacking⁴ group known as D33Ds Company posted 453,492 account credentials in plain text on a public website, claiming that it did so as a "wake-up call" rather than a threat to Yahoo.

"There have been many security holes exploited in web servers belonging to Yahoo! Inc. that have caused far greater damage than our disclosure. Please do not take them lightly," said the group at the end of the post.

D33Ds added that some sensitive information they had got was not posted to avoid further damage.

Security firm TrustedSec said the hacked⁵ service may be Yahoo Voices, a Yahoo division focusing on online publishing which was formerly⁶ called Associated Content.

"The most alarming part to the entire story was the fact that the passwords were stored completely unencrypted," said TrustedSec in its blog.

1 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

2 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

5 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

6 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。