Yahoo! confirms major data breach

Hi-Tech Nilgun Salim
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The group of hackers allegedly hired by a rival country hacked more than 500 million Yahoo user accounts in 2014.

‘A recent survey conducted by Yahoo! Inc. during a hack from 2014, confirmed a data breach which included copies of access data of the online accounts and we believe the authors are individuals supported by rival states. The information from the accounts include names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, encrypted passwords and in some cases: questions and security answers. According to the investigation, the stolen data does not include bank account information’, state the American company.

Yahoo advises users who did not change their passwords since 2014 to remedy the situation.

‘Yahoo has initiated the procedure of notifying the affected users and adopted security measures to secure their online accounts’, said Yahoo.

The company based in Sunnyvale, California has about 1 billion users, according to WSJ. Yahoo is currently collaborating with the American secret services in order to elucidate the case.

The hackers managed to break the protection systems and steal valuable information.

Allegedly, the group of cyber criminals is supported and owned by a foreign government.

It is not clear yet how the email service is going to be affected.

Especially, regarding the deal with Verizon Communications. Verizon acquired Yahoo and its subdivisions for $4,83 billion dollars back in July.

Shares of Yahoo stock closed a penny higher at $44.15, while shares of Verizon, were up about 1 percent.

Retailers and health insurers have been especially hard hit after high-profile breaches at Home Depot Inc (HD.N), Target Corp (TGT.N), Anthem Inc (ANTM.N) and Premera Blue Cross.