All of Yahoo’s three billion accounts were compromised in a 2013 data theft by unknown hackers in what Reuters calls “the largest breach in history”, the company has admitted.
The tripling of the reported size of the breach - from an earlier estimate of one billion - comes after Yahoo obtained “new intelligence”, the Financial Times reports.
In 2016, Yahoo said that names, email addresses, hashed passwords, birthdays, phone numbers, and, in some cases, “encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers” had been stolen by the hackers. This week, however, the internet giant said the stolen information did not include passwords, credit card data or bank details, The Guardian reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
News that the hack compromised all of Yahoo’s accounts “sharply” increases the legal exposure of its new owner, Verizon Communications, says Reuters.
Yahoo already faces more than 40 US court claims related to the data breach.
John Yanchunis, a lawyer representing affected account holders, said the figures were “really mind-numbing when you think about it”.
