Just when you think Yahoo's security issues
can't get any worse, the company proves you
wrong.
Yahoo disclosed a new security breach on
Wednesday that may have affected more than
one billion accounts. The breach dates back to
2013 and is thought to be separate from a
massive cybersecurity incident announced in
September.
Yahoo now believes an "unauthorized third
party" stole user data from more than one billion
accounts in August 2013. That data may have
included names, email addresses and
passwords, but not financial information.
The company will notify users who may be
affected and has begun requiring users to change
their passwords.
The security incident, likely one of the largest
cybersecurity breaches ever, comes less than
three months after Yahoo admitted data from at
least 500 million accounts had been stolen.
That earlier breach, which Yahoo has attributed
to a "state-sponsored actor," is likely unrelated
to the newly disclosed breach, according to the
company.
"We believe this incident is likely distinct from
the incident we disclosed on September 22,
2016," Bob Lord, Yahoo's chief information
security officer, wrote in a blog post.
The second cybersecurity breach raises more
concerns about whether Yahoo took enough
precautions. As one former employee told
CNNMoney after the first breach was disclosed,
"Security was pushed to the back end" behind
"other priorities."
The original breach was initially viewed as a
threat to Verizon's $4.8 billion deal to buy
Yahoo, given the potential impact on Yahoo's
brand and user retention. Verizon learned about
the breach after agreeing to the acquisition and
later said it could have a meaningful financial
impact on the deal.
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong said earlier this
month he was "cautiously optimistic" the deal
would go through -- but the second massive
breach could change that.
"As we've said all along, we will continue to
evaluate the situation as Yahoo continues its
investigation," Verizon said in a statement
Wednesday. "We will review the impact of this
new development before reaching any final
conclusions."
Yahoo's stock fell 2.5% in after hours trading
Wednesday following the disclosure. http://www.cnnmoney.mobi/article?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmoney.cnn.com%2Fmobile%2Fjson%2F2016%2F12%2F14%2Ftechnology%2Fyahoo-breach-billion-users.json
By Seth Fiegerman 12/14 05:30 PM EST.