Yahoo Reveals That All 3B Users Hacked in 2013 Data Breach

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The personal private information of all 3 billion Yahoo users was exposed in a 2013 data hack, according to a statement made by the company earlier this week.

Yahoo originally disclosed that 1 billion users were affected by the hack, but according to news reports, the company recently became aware that all 3 billion accounts were hacked – making this the largest data breach in history.

“At that time, Yahoo disclosed that more than one billion of the approximately three billion accounts existing in 2013 had likely been affected,” noted the company in a statement.

“It is important to note that, in connection with Yahoo’s December 2016 announcement of the August 2013 theft, Yahoo took action to protect all accounts. The company required all users who had not changed their passwords since the time of the theft to do so. Yahoo also invalidated unencrypted security questions and answers so they cannot be used to access an account,” Yahoo said in a statement.

Yahoo is facing numerous class actions over the alleged data breach that occurred in August of 2013. According to one class action lawsuit, Yahoo failed to protect its users’ personal and confidential information, exposing them to the breach.

Additionally, says the class action, Yahoo failed to disclose the massive data breach, resulting in users losing precious time to protect their personal and financial information.

The Yahoo data breach class action lawsuit survived a motion to dismiss in September of this year with a federal judge determining that the Class’ increased risk of identity theft is sufficient to bring the lawsuit.

According to the class action lawsuit, data hackers accessed user email addresses, passwords, birthdates, phone numbers, and other information. Verizon, who recently purchased the online services company, says that after hiring additional consultants to investigate the breach, they discovered that all accounts had been compromised.

“Verizon is committed to the highest standards of accountability and transparency, and we proactively work to ensure the safety and security of our users and networks in an evolving landscape of online threats,” said Verizon’s Chief Information Security Officer in a statement. “Our investment in Yahoo is allowing that team to continue to take significant steps to enhance their security, as well as benefit from Verizon’s experience and resources.”

The company says that it will take measures to help users protect their personal information.

According to the proposed class action lawsuits that hit the company after it disclosed the breach, Yahoo failed to keep account information secure in the first place and, in doing so, violated state and federal laws.

Yahoo has been hit with a number of breaches over the past several year, including a separate breach in 2014 that was attributed to Russian spies and hackers who were recently indicted.

UPDATE: On Oct. 22, 2018, Yahoo users are seeking approval from a California federal judge for a $50 million settlement deal that would end three class action lawsuits claiming that Yahoo’s negligence led to data breaches affecting American and Israeli email users.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 28, 2019, a federal judge denied a $50 million Yahoo class action settlement, finding the proposed deal lacked specific information about ways the tech company would improve data security.

UPDATE 3: On April 9, 2019, Yahoo has now agreed to pay $117.5 million to resolve legal claims regarding three large data breaches that affected the internet company.

UPDATE 4: On July 20, 2019, a federal judge has preliminarily signed off on a $117 million class action settlement agreement between Yahoo and accountholders who were affected by numerous data breaches.

UPDATE 5: September 2019, the Yahoo data breach class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.