Yahoo announced that 500 million of their accounts were hacked and sold to internet criminals.  Yahoo is responding by sending emails to their users suggesting they change their passwords and account information.  The problem is they are including links in the emails, giving cyber criminals a template for phishing emails they can use to initiate a cyber attack. If you are a yahoo user, protect yourself by doing the following:

• Navigate to the Yahoo website directly without using an email link and change your password. Make sure it is long, strong and unique.
• If your Yahoo password was used on other sites, go to those sites directly to change their passwords. Each site should have a unique password.
• Check your security questions on these sites and make sure the answers aren’t obvious.
• Be on the watch for any emails from Yahoo. Do not click on any links within these emails. Contact Yahoo directly to verify all communication.
• Consider using a password manager to generate and store hard to hack passwords.
• Although Yahoo currently states that no credit card information was taken, stay safe and check your credit card statements for unauthorized transactions.

Although these precautions are directed at Yahoo users, everyone can benefit from following them.