Yahoo 2013 Hacks Affected All 3 Billion Accounts
Yahoo has revealed on Tuesday that every single one of its accounts were affected by the massive data theft that occurred in 2013. This is after the company disclosed back in 2016 that more than one billion of their accounts were affected by the hacking.
This new revelation triples the number of affected accounts to three billion. The disclosure, attorneys said, could sharply increase the legal exposure of its new owner, Verizon Communications Inc. and likely number and claims of class action lawsuits by shareholders and Yahoo account holders.
In a recent update to its Account Security Update page, Yahoo revealed that it discovered the wider breach with new intelligence obtained through its integration with Verizon. The company also enlisted the help forensic experts who aided in discovering the breach. An official from the company stressed that the total number of affected accounts included those that were opened but were never or only briefly used.
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Following the 2013 data theft, the company has faced at least 41 consumer class-action lawsuits in U.S. federal and state courts. According to John Yanchunis, a lawyer representing one affected user, a federal judge who allowed the case to go forward still had asked for more information to justify his clients' claims.
"I think we have those facts now," he said. "It's really mind-numbing when you think about it."
Many lawyers are now asking if Verizon will use this new information to look for a new opportunity to address the price. The company lowered its original offer by $350 million for Yahoo assets in February following two massive cyber attacks on the internet company.
The closing of the deal, which was announced back in July, had been delayed as both companies assessed the fallout from two data breaches that Yahoo. Verizon reportedly paid $4.48 billion for Yahoo's core business.
Verizon Inc. has yet to issue a comment regarding this latest development.
