Could your Yahoo! account be up for grabs?
Yahoo! recently announced that it will make inactive Yahoo! accounts available for the public. Starting today July 15, anyone can grab Yahoo! IDs that have been unused for the past 12 months.
So what does this all mean?
Now is the time to revisit the past and clean house. You should check if you have any unused Yahoo! accounts. While you might be ready to let go of your high school era Yahoo! ID, it might still have important or sentimental emails that could become inaccessible after the deadline.
It’s also the time to check and update your information for your online accounts. Your inactive Yahoo! email addresses might still be your recovery contact for your online accounts. This can become a problem in instances of password recovery. Strangers might be able to rest and get into your accounts if they receive the recovery email that was meant for you.
You should also inform your contacts of your deactivated Yahoo! ID. They might message or email the new owner and inadvertently share sensitive information. At best, this honest mistake could end up as a funny anecdote you can tell at parties; at worst, your online identity could be stolen. On the flip side, you should be verifying Yahoo! IDs before communicating with them. Your Yahoo! contacts could very well be strangers.
Check out our e-guide How to Secure Your Multiple Online Accounts for tips to better secure your (active) online accounts. You can then use our e-guide Keeping Things Private Online to make sure all your data remains private.
