Yahoo Cyber Breach Was Bigger

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04 October 2017 | Updated 01 January 1970

Yahoo has announced (week ending Oct 6) that it is providing notice to additional user accounts affected by an August 2013 data theft previously disclosed by the company on December 14, 2016.

At that time, Yahoo disclosed that more than one billion of the approximately three billion accounts existing in 2013 had likely been affected. In 2016, Yahoo took action to protect all accounts, including directly notifying users identified at the time, requiring password changes and invalidating unencrypted security questions and answers so that they could not be used to access an account. Yahoo also notified users via a notice on its website.

Subsequent to Yahoo's acquisition by Verizon and during integration, the company recently obtained new intelligence and now believes, following an investigation with the assistance of outside forensic experts, that all Yahoo user accounts were affected by the August 2013 theft.

While this is not a new security issue, Yahoo is sending email notifications to the additional affected user accounts.

The investigation indicates that the user account information that was stolen did not include passwords in clear text, payment card data or bank account information.

The company is continuing to work closely with law enforcement.

"Verizon is committed to the highest standards of accountability and transparency and we proactively work to ensure the safety and security of our users and networks in an evolving landscape of online threats," said Chandra McMahon, Chief Information Security Officer, Verizon. "Our investment in Yahoo is allowing that team to continue to take significant steps to enhance their security, as well as benefit from Verizon's experience and resources."

Additional information regarding this issue is available on the Yahoo 2013 Account Security Update FAQs page, https://yahoo.com/security-update.

Yahoo now operates as part of Oath, a subsidiary of Verizon

Article written by Brian Shillibeer | Published 04 October 2017

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