Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale, California Yahoo is preparing to disclose a data breach that compromised the details of several hundred million users, it has emerged. Technology news site Recode reported the news on Thursday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the company’s plan. It is not clear how such a disclosure might affect Yahoo’s plan to sell its email service and other core internet properties to Verizon Communications for $4.8 billion . Representatives at Yahoo and Verizon could not be reached for comment. If a breach is confirmed, Yahoo would likely force users to change their passwords, said Linn Freedman, a privacy attorney with Robinson & Cole LLP. Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer But Yahoo would likely not need to notify individuals affected via mail or provide them with credit monitoring services if the scope of the breach is limited to what has been described in press reports. "If no financial information or Social Security numbers are involved, then most state laws would not require notification and credit monitoring would not be applicable," Freedman said. Recode’s report follows an August 1 story on the technology news site, Motherboard, which said a cyber criminal known as Peace was selling the data of about 200 million Yahoo users, but did not confirm its authenticity. Yahoo to cut 1,600 staff as under-fire CEO fights to save her own job The Motherboard report was published a week after Verizon announced its deal with Yahoo. Peace was selling that data for 3 bitcoin, or around $1,860, according to Motherboard. Details that were possibly compromised include user names, birth dates, some backup email addresses and scrambled passwords, Motherboard said. Verizon is buying Yahoo for nearly $5 billion Gartner analyst Avivah Litan said that even though a breach had not been confirmed, all Yahoo users should assume […]
