Yahoo now says 3 billion accounts were hacked in 2013

Yahoo's soap opera, its very serious security flaws, and the concealment of these, continues its advance. The company has now revealed that the hack suffered in 2013 and that it would have initially affected one billion users, actually affected Yahoo's 3 billion user accounts.

A ruling three times more serious than confessed

The hacking of Yahoo accounts took place in 2013, however, the company did not reveal it until three years later when, in 2016, it announced that 1 billion user accounts were exposed to unauthorized access by a third party. Data that this “third party” had access to includes email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, passwords, and security questions and answers.

Now, as a precautionary measure, Yahoo is reporting this fact to the remaining 2 billion users who would also have been affected. On the other hand, Yahoo has also placed special emphasis on maintaining that the passwords in text or details about the payment card and bank details were not hacked.

Following Verizon's acquisition of Yahoo, and during the integration, the company now believes, after an investigation with the help of outside forensic experts, that all of Yahoo's user accounts were affected by the August 2013 theft.

Although this is not a new security issue, Yahoo sends email notifications to additional affected user accounts.

How could it be otherwise, Verizon, a company that bought from Yahoo earlier this year despite Google's attempts, through Chandra McMahon, Head of Information Security at Verizon, has stated that it is fully committed to the safety of users and ensures that it will be as transparent as possible in terms of security:

Verizon is committed to the highest standards of accountability and transparency, and we work proactively to ensure the safety of our users and networks in an ever-evolving landscape of online threats.

Our investment in Yahoo allows that team to continue to take significant steps to improve their security, as well as benefit from Verizon's expertise and resources.

This is just one of the numerous security flaws that have plagued Yahoo in recent years. Last year, the company confirmed that an attack in 2014 affected the information of 500 million user accounts. Yahoo talks about government-sponsored sabotage. It later confirmed another, smaller attack that affected some 32 million accounts.

If you wish, you can consult the full statement (in English) made by Yahoo on October 3, 2017 here.