YAHOO HACKED: Largest Reported Data Breach in History

yahoo hacked

Yesterday, Yahoo announced that in 2014 the company experienced a massive data breach after being infiltrated by what they described as “state-sponsored” hackers. As many as 500 million accounts  were compromised (the largest number ever exposed), and Yahoo has been sitting on this information for some time; probably to avoid any complications with its recent sale to Verizon ( a nearly 5 billion dollar deal). The BBC reports:

Verizon, which has agreed to buy Yahoo, said it had not been told until a couple of days ago – why not? And why is Marissa Mayer, a chief executive who has presided over bad deals and now the biggest breach in internet history, still in charge? In July, Yahoo was sold to US telecoms giant Verizon for $4.8bn (£3.7bn). Verizon told the BBC it had learned of the hack “within the last two days” and said it had “limited information”. It added: “Until then, we are not in position to further comment.”

Top 10 Previous Breaches

MySpace accounts – 359m
LinkedIn accounts – 164m
Adobe accounts – 152m
Badoo accounts – 112m
VK accounts – 93m
Dropbox accounts – 68m
tumblr accounts – 65m
iMesh accounts – 49m
Fling accounts – 40m
Last.fm accounts – 37m

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About Patrick Stephens 163 Articles
Patrick is the founder and lead editor of the publication. Currently a pastor of many years by trade, Patrick served in the US Army and did his graduate work at both Miami University in Oxford, OH (Social Sciences) and the University of Dayton (Theology) — earning an advanced degree. He enjoys bringing a larger historical and philosophical perspective to his projects. Also, he likes comic books.