Telecom Cancels Current Passwords of Compromised Accounts
Telecom Cancels Current Passwords of Additional
Yahoo! Xtra Compromised Email
Accounts
Telecom has tonight begun
cancelling the current passwords of around 60,000 Yahoo!
Xtra email accounts it believes to have been compromised
following a cyber attack last weekend.
These
additional 60,000 customers, on top of the existing 15,000
that Telecom has been contacting over the past few days,
will now be required to enter new password information when
logging into their email account.
The move by
Telecom is aimed at protecting its email customers and
preventing information contained within their emails being
accessed although to date there is no confirmed evidence, by
Yahoo!, that this has occurred.
Telecom CEO Retail
Chris Quin says 60,000 of the 450,000 Yahoo! Xtra customers
have changed their password since last weekend but updated
details on compromised accounts means the best way to
protect customers is to cancel the current passwords of
these additional 60,000 accounts.
“We’re
taking this matter very seriously,” says Mr Quin, “and
urge those whose passwords have been cancelled to create new
passwords. However, it’s advisable for all others that
have not changed their password, to do so immediately both
on their computer but also on mobile devices and tablets. We
continue to be sorry for any distress caused or
inconvenience this has caused and reinforce that in
today’s online world regular password changes are an
important need.”
Telecom Yahoo! Xtra customers
are encouraged to visit Telecom’s website, www.telecom.co.nz, as
well as Yahoo! NZ’s, for updates regarding this
issue.
ENDS