The Yahoo breach might have seriously compromised national security

Government employee information may have been compromised. — (Image credit: iStock)

Yahoo announced Wednesday that more than a billion user accounts could have been compromised in a 2013 hack. Among that number are more than 150,000 U.S. government or military employees, Bloomberg reports: "These employees had given their official government accounts to Yahoo in case they were ever locked out of their email," they write.

Criminals or foreign intelligence services could now have the names, passwords, phone numbers, birthdays, and security questions of government employees, potentially compromising national security. Government employees, even low level ones, are appealing targets for hackers, who will go down the list "one by one," Frank Zou of HoloNet Security told Bloomberg. "They're easy targets."

Government accounts compromised by the Yahoo hack include current and former White House staff, U.S. congressmen, FBI agents, officials at the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, international diplomats, and all of the branches of the military. "The difference of Yahoo hack between any other hack is in that it may really destroy your privacy," cybersecurity researcher Andrew Komarov said, "and potentially have already destroyed it several years ago without your knowledge."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.