Internet search and web services company
Yahoo has revealed that 'one billion' account holders were impacted by a hack which took place in 2013. Yahoo, which has headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, United States, is one of the internet’s pioneering companies and, before the rise of Google, held an unassailable position as the leading search engine. Established in 1994 and once a target of acquisition by Microsoft, the company has struggled to find its place in the modern internet environment. It reported a $4.3 billion loss for 2015 and in a bid to “improve profitability and accelerate growth” initiated downsizing which impacted around 15% of its workforce. The latest revelation is another major setback for the company.
News of the hack comes after a disclosure in 2014 that it had been subject to a major breach which included the passwords and email addresses of 500 million accounts. It comes at a bad time for the company, which was earmarked for acquisition by New Jersey-based telecommunications company Verizon. A number of reports suggested that Verizon had asked for $1 billion discount on its acquisition because of prior reports of hacking. In October financial analysts Needham & Company downgraded Yahoo based on fears Verizon might back out of the deal. The breach was revealed by experts’ investigation of the 2014 hack.
Yahoo circulated a “NOTICE OF DATA BREACH” today (15 December 2016) informing customers they “have taken steps to secure” their accounts and are “working closely with law enforcement” to address the issue. The notification suggested that “names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (using MD5) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers” were breached, but “payment card data and bank account information” were not affected. The message encouraged account holders to change passwords and security questions and answers and review all accounts for “suspicious activity”.
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