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Yahoo Says Hackers Stole Information From Over 1 Billion Accounts (go.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the ones-and-zeros dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a breaking report from ABC News: Yahoo says it believes hackers stole data from more than one billion user accounts in August 2013. The Sunnyvale, California, company says it's a different breach from the one it disclosed in September, when it said 500 million accounts were exposed. That new hack revelation raises questions about whether Verizon will try to change the terms of its $4.8 billion proposed acquisition of Yahoo. Yahoo says the information stolen may include names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and security questions and answers. The company says it believes bank-account information and payment-card data were not affected.

4 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. If this deal doesn't collapse... by ChiefGeneralManager · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ....we know our privacy is non-existent. That Verizon could continue to talk of a deal after the last Yahoo! breach was amazing. If Verizon continues with an additional *billion* it shows that neither the market nor the establishment can penalise egregious data loss. It's pathetic that they claim bank account information is likely safe, but the combination of personal data _plus security questions and answers_ opens a whole new field. Wow.

    1. Re:If this deal doesn't collapse... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's pathetic that they claim bank account information is likely safe, but the combination of personal data _plus security questions and answers_ opens a whole new field.

      That's why I never give my real birthdate, location, or real answers the security questions. I don't even use the same answers across different services. It's really an obvious weakness whenever you consider that a hacker could potentially build up a pretty detailed personal history on you just by collecting all the answers to security questions, from various websites that you login into.

  2. Yahoo should simply cease to exist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It has utterly failed in every conceivable way. File for bankruptcy.

  3. The company says it believes bank-account ... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...The company says it believes bank-account information and payment-card data were not affected....

    Geesh. Given the history of yahoo attacks and their announcements, give it a few weeks and then we'll probably see yet another announcement from yahoo about how hackers got bank account info and payment data. It has become apparent that Yahoo may not possess the ability to run an online portal securely.