Yahoo hack: At least 500 million accounts targeted in 'state-sponsored' attack

At least 500 million Yahoo accounts have been hacked in one of the world's largest ever data breaches, the company has confirmed.

Yahoo said the hack dated back to late 2014 and blamed a "state-sponsored actor" for the breach.

The stolen data includes users' names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords and security questions for verifying an account holder's identity.

In a blog, the company wrote: "The ongoing investigation suggests that stolen information did not include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information.

"Payment card data and bank account information are not stored in the system that the investigation has found to be affected.