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Yam data breach

From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the June 2013 breach of Yam. For every breach, see Breaches.

The Yam data breach exposed 13,258,797 accounts from yam.com in June 2013. The data taken includes passwords, usernames, dates of birth and names and 3 more kinds of data.[1]

Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 22 May 2021, 8 years later. It is the 118th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.

What was exposed

Yam’s breach included 7 kinds of data. What each lets criminals do:

DataWhat it’s used for
PasswordsCriminals try leaked passwords on email, banking and shopping sites, because people reuse them.
UsernamesHalf of a login. With a reused password, it opens other accounts.
Dates of birthUsed to prove who you are to banks and phone companies.
NamesMakes scam messages personal enough to believe.
Physical addressesUsed to prove who you are, and for scam letters and parcels.
Email addressesExpect scam emails that name the company to look genuine.
Phone numbersExpect scam texts and calls, and a higher risk of someone moving your number to their SIM.

What to do

  1. Check whether you’re in it.Search your email address on Have I Been Pwned. It tells you which breaches it appears in, Yam among them, without showing the data.
  2. Change your Yam password.If the account still exists, sign in at Yam (yam.com) and change it.
  3. Change it anywhere you used the same one.Start with your email, then banking and shopping. Leaked passwords are tried on other sites automatically, within days.
  4. Use a password manager and two-step sign-in.A different password for every site means one breach can’t open the rest. Two-step sign-in stops a leaked password working on its own.
  5. Distrust messages that mention Yam.Scammers use breach data to sound genuine. Don’t click links in emails or texts about the breach; go to the site yourself.
  6. Put a PIN on your phone account.Ask your mobile provider for a port-out PIN, so no one can move your number to their SIM.
  7. Freeze your credit.In the US, free at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. In Australia, ask Equifax, Experian and illion for a ban. No one can open credit in your name while it’s on.

Timeline

  • : the breach, as best it can be dated.
  • : Have I Been Pwned verifies the data and adds it to its search, 8 years later.

Breaches often stay hidden for a long time. Until it came out, people in it had no reason to change anything.

Similar breaches

Breaches that leaked the same kinds of data, closest in time:

  • Sony, June 2011, 37,103 accounts
  • JobStreet, March 2012, 3.9 million accounts
  • VNG, May 2015, 25 million accounts
  • NetGalley, December 2020, 1.4 million accounts
  • TrueFire, February 2020, 599,667 accounts
  • Estante Virtual, February 2019, 5.4 million accounts

See Breaches for all 618, and Updates for keeping your devices patched.

References

  1. ^ Troy Hunt. “Yam”, Have I Been Pwned, added 22 May 2021. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.