Important massage as Yahoo attack hit 500 million users

Hackers stole information from about 500 million users in 2014. It appears to be the largest publicly disclosed cyber-breach in history, according to Yahoo. The breach included personal information including names, emails as well as “unencrypted security questions and answers. It did not include any credit card data, the site said, adding it believed the attack was state-sponsored.

 Verizon, which has agreed to buy Yahoo, said it had not been told until a couple of days ago - why not? And why is Marissa Mayer, a chief executive who has presided over bad deals and now the biggest breach in internet history, still in charge?

According to BBC, Verizon had learned of the hack "within the last two days" and said it had "limited information".

News of a possible major attack on the technology firm emerged in August when a hacker known as "Peace" was apparently attempting to sell information on 200 million Yahoo accounts. Yahoo on Thursday confirmed the breach was far bigger than first thought.
 
In July, Yahoo was sold to US telecoms giant Verizon for $4.8bn (£3.7bn). The FBI has confirmed it is investigating the attack.

The data taken includes names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and encrypted passwords. Yahoo recommended all users should change their passwords if they had not done so since 2014.

 Yahoo said in a statement: "Online intrusions and thefts by state-sponsored actors have become increasingly common across the technology industry."

The company added: "We will evaluate as the investigation continues through the lens of overall Verizon interests, including consumers, customers, shareholders and related communities.

"Until then, we are not in position to further comment."