This week in the Wall Street Journal, Brad Russell, Research Analyst at Parks Associates, provided some tips on what Yahoo users can do to protect themselves after yesterday’s news of a security breach in 2014.

Brad’s recommended actions include:

1. Be watchful for any communication from Yahoo that clarifies whether you are affected and to what degree.
2. Immediately change your Yahoo password and any similar passwords you use for other online accounts.
3. As a matter of practice, change your password for all accounts on a regular basis or use a password generator or management tool for heightened security.
4. Be mindful that some companies such as AT&T run email through Yahoo. Neither company has yet said if this kind of use of Yahoo is affected or not.
5. Be watchful of any malicious activity on other online accounts.
6. Do not open or respond to unsolicited email requests that ask you to verify login credentials for any online account. If such a request is valid, the company will contact you in a more trustworthy and secure manner that requires multifactor authentication.
7. A common phishing strategy of hackers is to lure consumers to fake websites masquerading as legitimate company sites. When interacting on a website, carefully examine the site and its URL to look for hints that the site may not be legitimate, such as spelling errors, an irregular domain (e.g., yahoositemail.com vs. yahoo.com), poor grammar, and logos and branding that don’t quite match what you are familiar with.
8. Close down any email or online services accounts that are unused or dormant. They just create more points of vulnerability.

Parks Associates follows the cybersecurity space closely and regularly produces several privacy reports. Recent research includes Privacy & Big Data: Safeguarding Consumers and Tech Support: Influencing IoT Adoption.

Related research from Parks Associates shows:

• 47% of U.S. broadband households are concerned their private information stored on connected devices could be made public.
• 47% of U.S. broadband households are worried companies will sell their personal information.
• More than 40% of U.S. broadband households are interested in services that protect privacy and manage online consumer information.
• 76% of U.S. broadband households express high levels of concern about security and privacy when using connected devices.
• Consumers express the greatest level of concern for privacy and security of computers and tablets (43%), followed by smartphones (41%).
• Nearly as many respondents express concern about relatively newer smart entry devices, such as door locks and garage openers (40%), as well as home security systems (38%)

Further Reading:

• The Real Costs of a Corporate Data Breach
• Best Practices for IoT Security and Privacy
• Nearly 50% of U.S. broadband households are concerned about the security of their data on connected devices