Telecom believes it has fixed its email users' security following the recent cyber-attack after 65,000 users changed their Yahoo! Xtra email passwords.

On February 9, Telecom's Yahoo! Xtra email service was hit by an attack that hijacked people's emails attempting to gain confidential information and credit card details from users.

65,000 Telecom email customers have changed their passwords since the company was hit by a cyber attack on February 9.

The issue was first noticed when Yahoo!'s email servers sent out hundreds of spam emails to users' contact lists.

Last Saturday, Telecom cancelled the existing passwords of about 87,000 accounts, which were sending spam after the breach. Since then 65,000 of the 450,000 users have changed their passwords.

The move is aimed at protecting the company's email customers and preventing information contained within their emails being accessed.

Telecom retail chief executive Chris Quinn says the majority of users who were impacted made the changes required online by following detailed steps on Telecom's website.

'We really appreciate the patience our customers have shown during what we know was a hugely stressful and inconvenient time for them.

'We share our customers' frustration, which is why we are conducting a thorough review of this situation.”

The balance has been identified by Telecom as having been inactive for at least 90 days before the attack. These accounts will continue to have temporary passwords on them and the account holders will have to change their passwords before they are able to access the accounts.

Telecom plans to contact those remaining account holders to ensure accounts are re-secured or closed.

Chris says everyone needs to regularly change their passwords, not just those who have been impacted by this incident.

All Telecom broadband customers receive a complimentary Yahoo! Xtra email account as well as other benefits including a free Flickr Pro account for managing photos and video content.

The company's customer base remains stable despite the recent cyber-attack and the team is working hard to ensure this does not change, says Chris.

'Most customers understand that their email and broadband account are not mutually exclusive.”

Yahoo! New Zealand general manger Laura Maxwell-Hansen says Yahoo! places considerable focus on email security and will continue to work hard to minimise the impact of cyber-attacks.

Yahoo! has assured Telecom there is no evidence the email accounts were accessed for any other reason than to send spam.