Hackers: more than 450,000 code names from Yahoo users posted online

CNN has reported that hackers had posted login information on a Web page for what the hackers said were more than 450,000 Yahoo users.

Yahoo verified the hack of Yahoo Voices, a publishing tool, citing “approximately 400,000” filched usernames and passwords. However, according to a Yahoo statement, less than five percent of the violated accounts had valid passwords.

A note appearing on the post page said, “We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as a threat, 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.”

The note also added, “subdomain and vulnerable parameters” used for the hack were not posted “to avoid further damage.”

Yahoo apologized to its users and said in its statement, “At Yahoo! we take security very seriously and invest heavily in protective measures to ensure the security of our users and their data across all our products. … We are 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.”

Voices was formerly known as Associated Content and was acquired by Yahoo in 2010. Many have rebuked it for being a “content farm,” a website that cranks out low-quality content created to game search engines to get page views and sell advertising.

Yahoo urged users to regularly change their passwords.