Yahoo Inc. experienced one of the largest data breaches in history, as at least 500 million user accounts were stolen—back in 2014. The company is blaming "state-sponsored" hackers for stealing names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birthdays, passwords and even encrypted information like answers to security questions.
Hackers broke into the company network two years ago, Yahoo said earlier this week. The company doesn't think that any information associated with bank accounts or payments was stolen, but obviously so much other personal information could give hackers access to bank info through other channels.
Yahoo is reportedly working with law enforcement and has urged users to change their passwords ––especially those who haven't in a few years. Users have also been encouraged to review online account activity for suspicious activity and change any passwords used elsewhere that match their yahoo password.
The timing couldn't be worse for Yahoo, who recently closed a deal to merge Verizon for $4.8 billion. According to Fortune, the breach could give Verizon cause to renegotiate the deal.
“Within the last two days, we were notified of Yahoo’s security incident,” Verizon said in a released statement. “We will evaluate as the investigation continues through the lens of overall Verizon interests, including consumers, customers, shareholders and related communities.”
Two years seems like an extremely long time for Yahoo to discover the breach. According to the Ponemon Institute, it normally takes 191 days to identify such an attack and 58 days to contain it.
Only time will tell what this means for the internet company, but in the meantime, if you use Yahoo, change your password!