1. Yahoo
When: 2013
Number of accounts affected: 1 billion
Yes, it’s Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) again. Did you think the last data breach, which was the largest in history, was bad? Well, let’s talk about this newly discovered breach which doubled the number to a whooping 1 billion accounts.
Just a few days ago, Yahoo made headlines again after announcing it had discovered a serious data breach that happened in August 2013. What makes it worse is that this wasn’t an update to the situation disclosed in September, and it’s actually a completely different incident. Even worse is that Yahoo found all this out from some data sets and now by actually identifying the intrusion associated with the theft.
Tashatuvango/Shutterstock.com
What data was put at risk? Well, personal information such as user names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords and even encrypted and unencrypted security questions and answers. The company believes it all happened after an “unauthorized third party accessed the company’s proprietary code to learn how to forge cookies.”
Since the acquisition is still ongoing for Yahoo, things aren’t looking up. After the first disclosure Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) already said that the hack could affect the terms and price of the acquisition, which was set for $4.8 billion. Reuters is reporting, however, that Verizon is looking for a renegotiation of the deal and even threatened to go to court over it, as declared by unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Once more, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s stock have barely felt the tremors of the earthquake the data breach has caused across the world.
With that being said, keep your data safe as you go online, especially after looking at these 10 biggest data breaches of all time.
