David Casey, who is representing plaintiffs Jennifer Myers and Paul Dugas in the San Diego class-action case, said a handful of people had contacted his firm before Yahoo admitted accounts were compromised, claiming their personal information was somehow compromised.
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Stolen information may have included names, email address, birth dates, and scrambled passwords, along with encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers that could help hackers break into victims´ other online accounts, according to Yahoo.
A Yahoo spokeswoman said the Sunnyvale, California-based company does not discuss pending litigation.
The acquisition took place before Yahoo received tips of a data breach in August when a hacker called Peace had put up 200 million user records on sale on a Dark Web marketplace.
Although the stolen data could be used in identity theft, experts say a foreign intelligence agency might combine the Yahoo files with information from other sources to build extensive dossiers on USA government officials or corporate executives. “Yahoo is working closely with law enforcement on this matter”. The lawsuit has sought class-action status and damages that had not been specified.
The data breach at the Yahoo network is described as one of the biggest cybersecurity breaches that include sensitive personal information of users. Now would be a good time to change a Yahoo account password, especially for those account holders who have kept the same password since 2014.
The attack could complicate Chief Executive Marissa Mayer’s effort to shore up the website’s flagging fortunes, two months after she agreed to a $4.8 billion sale of Yahoo’s Internet business to Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N).
It was bombshell news for the millions of users of the popular site. However, this 2014 hack was just discovered on Thursday after what one unidentified source claimed was another potential data breach from July, the Mercury News reported. What they don’t realize is that it’s still active and their information is still associated with it.
In a statement, Verizon said: “We will evaluate as the investigation continues through the lens of overall Verizon interests, including consumers, customers, shareholders and related communities”.
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This is a breaking story and will be updated.
