Yahoo! Staffers Knew About the Hack
According to recent filings made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), several employees at Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) knew about the massive data breach soon after it took place in 2014.
The company’s annual report provided clarification on a range of unanswered questions about the theft of 500 million customer accounts’ worth of data. (Source: “Yahoo Knew About the Breach in 2014,” Fortune, November 9, 2016.)
Advertisement
For instance, there were several officials within the company who knew about the attacks two years before it was disclosed to the public on September 22, 2016. Not to mention, those who read the company’s 10-K filing closely would have noticed the statement, “The Company had identified that a state-sponsored actor had access to the Company’s network in late 2014.”
The use of the words “state-sponsored actor” was not coincidental. It is meant to convey Yahoo!’s belief that a foreign government was complicit in the hacking of its customer data, much in the way that Sony Pictures (part of Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) was allegedly hacked by the North Korean government.
Yahoo!’s allegations were made after the company appointed an independent committee to look into the breach. They were supposed to determine the “scope of the knowledge within the company in 2014 and thereafter regarding this access” and the “extent to which certain users’ account information had been accessed.” (Source: Ibid.)
Credits: Flickr.com/Tobias Wolf
Now we know that the hackers got access to all sorts of customer data, including e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, dates of births, hashed passwords, and answers to security questions. They accomplished all this using a tactic known as “cookie forgery.”
Yahoo! executives continue to insist that the hack does not impact their business or financial standing, reassurances which are probably aimed at their potential acquirer: Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ). Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, who stands to be handsomely rewarded if the deal goes through, gave her assurance to investors that nothing had changed. User engagement metrics were unaffected, she said, ignoring critics’ observations that people may be logging in just to change their passwords.
Meanwhile, Verizon’s spokespeople have steered clear of any pronouncements. They are still “evaluating” the situation and will come to a conclusion in the near future.
