Computer Law & Security - PDF
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Added on 2021-06-14
Computer Law & Security - PDF
Added on 2021-06-14
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Yahoo HackIntroduction The hack involved Yahoo Company and happened in 2017 following other recent hacksreported by the company quietly (Das, Dabbish & Hong, 2018, April). The data breach thathappened in 2013 August involved more than 1 billion user accounts which were laterdiscovered that all the 3 billion user accounts were involved. The company that was greatlyaffected was Verizon which was purchasing yahoo for a deal of $4.8 billion (Crabb, 2017). This hack was noticed to the users through yahoo official notification sent to Yahooaccounts holders and read "Based on the ongoing investigation; we believe a forged cookie mayhave been used in 2015 or 2016 to access your accounts" (Solove& Schwartz, 2014).However, it was not clear what total number of customers were affected since thecompany did not know the exact number and also had only realized it after the long period justlike in the case of 2013 breach that involved more than 3 billion accounts users(Solove&Schwartz, 2014). The company linked the hack to have been facilitated by the state actorthrough use ofsophisticated cookie(Sengottuvel,Hussain& BIST). This hack deserves close attention because it involves a majority of people who send andreceive very private and confidential information using yahoo email accounts. The information iscrucial for Companies and may be used to deny them benefits in the markets if seen bycompetitors(Crabb, 2017).
How the company was affected According to a report by Bloomberg, Verizon, the yahoo parent company which was inthe process of acquiring it slashed the price to be paid by telecom service to yahoo by at least$250 million after the two security breaches were revealed the previous year(Crabb, 2017). Thismade it doubtful even if the deal would go through(Moustafa, 2016). Following the attack CEO Marissa Mayer Lost her bonuses and wrote a note that waspublished on Tumbler stating that, "When I learned in September 2016 that a large number ofour user database files had been stolen, I worked with the team to disclose the incident to users,regulators, and government agencies(Porteous, 2018). "However, I am the CEO of the companyand since this incident happened during my tenure, I have agreed to forgo my annual bonus andmy annual equity grant this year and have expressed my desire that my bonus be redistributed toour company’s hardworking employees, who contributed so much to Yahoo’s success in 2016."She said(Williams, Axon, Nurse, &Creese, 2016, September). Explain the implications associated with this breach, specifically in terms of privacy lawsand violations of the law.There is danger of people reusing their password when accessing other web accounts.This would mean that the hacker is likely to further continue exploiting and victimizing thoseaffected when using yahoo accounts(Das, Lo, Dabbish, & Hong, 2018). This means that Yahoocustomers may be at risks of further breaches and may not be in a position to blame
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