Have you ever received an email from a friend that was just downright spammy and wonder what possessed him or her to send it? Worse, have you received emails from concerned relatives and friends asking why you sent them emails pitching prescription drugs? If you’re familiar with either situation, then you know what happens when someone’s email account has been compromised and taken over by spammers.Whether it be via malicious software being silently installed on users’ computers, unknowingly logging in through a phishing page, or the use of common or easy-to-crack passwords, they are seeing an increase in legitimate user accounts that are being accessed and exploited by spammers. While they have measures in place to detect and mitigate the damage, it’s still a daunting and disconcerting dilemma being faced–and collaboratively worked on–by email providers across the industry.
If you have (or know of someone who has) been a victim of such an account compromise, here are the 2 most important actions to secure the account:
1) Change your password immediately. If you have a Yahoo! account, you can change your password at https://edit.yahoo.com/config/change_pw.
If you can no longer access your account, you can get a new password at
If you still can’t access your account after going through the “Forgot Your Password” process, you may contact our Customer Care team for assistance at:
Important: If you use the old password at other sites, they recommend you change it for those accounts as well. Furthermore, don’t revert to the old password at any time; that password can never be used safely again for any of your accounts.
2) Scan your computers for malicious software. If you have an anti-virus program installed, make sure to update it and then run a scan. Do this for both your personal and work computers. (You should be doing this periodically, by the way.)
If you don’t have an anti-virus program and are using a Windows computer, Microsoft provides a free, anti-virus program at:
For more tips and recommendations to keep your online experience safe, be sure to visit the Yahoo! Security Center.