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Yahoo disclosed Wednesday that user data associated with “more than one billion” user accounts was stolen by a hacker in August 2013. In a statement, the company says the incident is “likely distinct” from an incident announced in September in which account data connected to 500 million accounts was stolen by what the company claimed was a “state-sponsored actor.”
The data stolen “may have” included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers, according to Yahoo. See the full statement below, via Good Morning America:
JUST IN: Yahoo details hack that may have exposed more than 1 billion user accounts. pic.twitter.com/gOVXJnAMTJ
— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 14, 2016
It’s unclear how this latest announcement will affect the ongoing acquisition of the company by Verizon. In July, Verizon agreed to buy Yahoo for $4.8 billion. After the September announcement, Verizon General Counsel Craig Siliman told reporters that the breach could affect the deal, according to Reuters, and others have speculated that the breach could drive down the sale price.
