Yahoo: Don't Fear Plan to Recycle User IDs

Yahoo will release user IDs which have been inactive for over a year back into the wild of the World Wide Web, a move that's causing some security fears.

The Sunnyvale-based company is assuring users that the formerly inactive IDs won't be susceptible to hacking, according to reports.

The plan was first announced last week. In the interim period, the company has leapt to its own defense, following rumors that hackers could assume the identities of an inactive user name's former account, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

Yahoo is hoping that reopening to the public formerly inactive user names will attract new users to its services.

There are fears that a newly-activated account could be used to steal login information for an account on another company, such as Google, the newspaper reported.