200 million alleged Yahoo accounts are up for sale on the dark web

If you’re one of the few who refuse to move on to Gmail or Outlook but have stuck with Yahoo, your account may be on sale for a handsome sum right now. A notorious hacker named “Peace” has dumped 200 million alleged Yahoo accounts on the dark web, and Yahoo isn’t really forthcoming about the incident.

“Peace_of_mind” or “Peace” sells private data on the dark web and boasts a 100% satisfaction rating. Peace is a known hacker that previously sold millions of LinkedIn, MySpace, Tumblr, and Twitter accounts among others, and it seems as though Yahoo will be their next target.

On Monday, Peace added 200 million Yahoo accounts to their store, selling them for 3 bitcoins – approximately $1,860. According to the hacker, these accounts are most likely from 2012.

Yahoo is aware of the data leak but has neither confirmed or denied that these alleged Yahoo accounts are in fact, Yahoo accounts.

We are committed to protecting the security of our users’ information and we take any such claim very seriously. Our security team is working to determine the facts. Yahoo works hard to keep our users safe, and we always encourage our users to create strong passwords, or give up passwords altogether by using Yahoo Account Key, and use different passwords for different platforms.

What’s puzzling is that most companies would provide password resets to users who may or may not have been affected by any sort of security breach – even if they can’t validate the claim. Although there are no official words on whether these leaked accounts are authentic, Motherboard’s investigation could indicate that some of them are indeed real Yahoo accounts.

According to Motherboard, they received around 5,000 records before Peace’s most recent listing went public, and it was a mixed bag: some were active Yahoo accounts and some were discontinued or disabled. Many of the leaked accounts also contain usernames, hashed passwords, dates of birth, and even back-up email addresses. It’s hard to say just how many users this leak will affect.

No one knows how this Russian hacker and their team obtain masses of private data, but until Yahoo officially responds to this purported security breach, if you have an active Yahoo account, it’s probably wise to go ahead and change your personal details.

Do you have an active Yahoo account? How do you protect your personal information online? Let us know in the comments below!