Yahoo fixes vulnerability following 450,000 password breach

Yahoo has announced that it hass closed the vulnerability that led to 450,000 users having their accounts breached last week.

In a statement, the firm claimed that it had moved quickly to fix the breach, and added additional security measures to prevent similar problems in future.

"We have taken swift action and have now fixed this vulnerability, deployed additional security measures for affected Yahoo! users, enhanced our underlying security controls and are in the process of notifying affected users. In addition, we will continue to take significant measures to protect our users and their data."

Yahoo's security woes began last week when a group of hackers calling itself 'D33Ds Company' posted details of 450,000 usernames and passwords which it claimed belonged to Yahoo users.

At the time the breach became public knowledge, Yahoo tried to allay the fears of its users by claiming that less than five per cent of the username and password combinations were valid.

However, when Computing checked five of the breached accounts, it found that three of them were genuine.  Whilst this is not an exhaustive test, it suggests that a significantly higher proportion of accounts were actually breached than Yahoo claims.

Yahoo concluded its statement by claiming to invest heavily in security, and apologising to its users.

"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 sincerely apologize to all affected users."

Earlier last week the firm announced an end to its courtroom battle with Facebook over patent infringements, instead embarking on an advertising partnership with the social networking giant.