U.S. government threatened to sue Yahoo! for personal data

[Green Arrow]

Via Al Jazeera America (http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/9/11/u-s-government-strongarmedyahoototurnoveruserdata.html):


The U.S. government in 2007 threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day if the company refused to turn over user data to a National Security Agency surveillance program, according to recently unsealed court documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The 1,500 pages of documents show how Yahoo fought to withhold the data, in an unsuccessful legal battle against the government in the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the Foreign Intelligence Court of Review. The NSA had requested the data for its controversial online communications surveillance program known as PRISM. Yahoo's loss of the case required the company to become one of the first to begin providing user data to PRISM.


“We refused to comply with what we viewed as unconstitutional and overbroad surveillance and challenged the U.S. government’s authority,” Yahoo’s General Counsel Ron Bell said in a Tumblr post Thursday afternoon. “Our challenge, and a later appeal in the case, did not succeed.”


PRISM, a program first detailed by the revelations of security contractor Edward Snowden last year, was a wide-ranging effort to access and monitor the online communications of millions of customers who used Yahoo, among other U.S.-based technology firms such as Google, Apple and Facebook. The NSA’s request to Yahoo in 2007 was for metadata — information about whom users were exchanging messages with and when, as opposed to the content of the messages themselves. The program targeted users who were outside the U.S., according to the Post.

Yep, this is kind of the point I make on here every single day. As much as the partisans like to think all our problems started (Republicans) or stopped (Democrats) six years ago, they actually tend to be the result of decades worth of bad crap.

[kilgram]

That is a lie. How can you believe that source. They are Talibans and radicals xD

[momsapplepie]

No, There's ALOT that "floats" around.

He he he!

[waltky]

SEC lookin' into Yahoo cyber-breach...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/confused.gif
SEC probing Yahoo over previously disclosed cyber breach: filing
January 22, 2017 - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating a previously disclosed data breach at Yahoo Inc, the company said in a filing.


Yahoo said in a November 2016 quarterly filing that it was “cooperating with federal, state and foreign” agencies, including the SEC, that were seeking information and documents about a "security incident and related matters." The SEC is investigating whether two massive data breaches at Yahoo should have been reported sooner to investors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. An SEC spokesman declined to comment. A Yahoo spokesman directed Reuters to the company's November filing. Yahoo has faced pointed questions about exactly when it knew about a 2014 cyber attack it announced in September that exposed the email credentials of half a billion accounts.


https://www.yahoo.com/sy/ny/api/res/1.2/KlN5BgDGxUbVsYkvtLZbsA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9NDUwO2g9MjY3O2lsPX BsYW5l/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2017-01-23T030710Z_1006950001_LYNXMPED0M05P_RTROPTP_2_CBUS INESS-US-YAHOO-SEC-PROBE.JPG.cf.jpg
A photo illustration shows a Yahoo logo on a smartphone in front of a displayed cyber code and keyboard

In December, Yahoo said it had uncovered yet another massive cyber attack, saying data from more than 1 billion user accounts was compromised in August 2013. The SEC issued requests for documents in December, as it probes whether the technology company’s disclosures about the cyber attacks complied with civil securities laws, the people said, according to the Journal. Securities industry rules require companies to disclose cyber breaches to investors. Although the SEC has long-standing guidance on when publicly traded companies should report hacking incidents, companies that have experienced known breaches often omit those details in regulatory filings, according to a 2012 Reuters investigation.(reut.rs/2dblx5S)

Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner asked the SEC in September to investigate whether Yahoo and its senior executives fulfilled obligations to inform investors and the public about the 2014 hacking attack. The disclosures from Yahoo about both breaches came after the company agreed to sell its main business to Verizon Communications Inc in July, triggering questions about whether the deal would still be viable and, if so, at what price. Other agencies looking into the data breach include the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and “a number of State Attorneys General,” Yahoo said in the November filing.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sec-probing-yahoo-over-previously-disclosed-cyber-breach-030710299--finance.html?ref=gs

[AeonPax]

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More damn necro threads.

[waltky]

All 3 Billion Accounts Hacked...
http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/images/smilies/eek.gif
Yahoo Says All 3 Billion Accounts Hacked in 2013 Data Theft
October 03, 2017 - Yahoo on Tuesday said that all 3 billion of its accounts were hacked in a 2013 data theft, tripling its earlier estimate of the size of the largest breach in history, in a disclosure that attorneys said sharply increased the legal exposure of its new owner, Verizon Communications.


The news expands the likely number and claims of class action lawsuits by shareholders and Yahoo account holders, they said. Yahoo, the early face of the internet for many in the world, already faced at least 41 consumer class-action lawsuits in U.S. federal and state courts, according to company securities filing in May. John Yanchunis, a lawyer representing some of the affected Yahoo users, said a federal judge who allowed the case to go forward still had asked for more information to justify his clients' claims. "I think we have those facts now," he said. "It's really mind-numbing when you think about it." Yahoo said last December that data from more than 1 billion accounts was compromised in 2013, the largest of a series of thefts that forced Yahoo to cut the price of its assets in a sale to Verizon. Yahoo on Tuesday said "recently obtained new intelligence" showed all user accounts had been affected. The company said the investigation indicated that the stolen information did not include passwords in clear text, payment card data, or bank account information.

But the information was protected with outdated, easy-to-crack encryption, according to academic experts. It also included security questions and backup email addresses, which could make it easier to break into other accounts held by the users. Many Yahoo users have multiple accounts, so far fewer than 3 billion were affected, but the theft ranks as the largest to date, and a costly one for the internet pioneer. Verizon in February lowered its original offer by $350 million for Yahoo assets in the wake of two massive cyber attacks at the internet company. Some lawyers asked whether Verizon would look for a new opportunity to address the price. "This is a bombshell," said Mark Molumphy, lead counsel in a shareholder derivative lawsuit against Yahoo's former leaders over disclosures about the hacks. Verizon did not respond to a request for comment about any possible lawsuit over the deal. Verizon, the likely main target of legal actions, also could be challenged as it launches a new brand, Oath, to link its Yahoo, AOL and Huffington Post internet properties.


https://gdb.voanews.com/99CC0F21-43D4-4600-B55F-2289D73D161D_cx0_cy11_cw0_w1023_r1_s.jpg
The Yahoo logo appears on a smartphone.


In August in the separate lawsuit brought by Yahoo's users, U.S. Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, ruled Yahoo must face nationwide litigation brought on behalf of owners accounts who said their personal information was compromised in the three breaches. Yanchunis, the lawyer for the users, said his team planned to use the new information later this month to expanding its allegations. Also on Tuesday, Senator John Thune, chairman of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, said he plans to hold a hearing later this month over massive data breaches at Equifax and Yahoo. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission already had been probing Yahoo over the hacks. The closing of the Verizon deal, which was first announced in July, had been delayed as the companies assessed the fallout from two data breaches that Yahoo disclosed last year. The company paid $4.48 billion for Yahoo's core business.

A Yahoo official emphasized Tuesday that the 3 billion figure included many accounts that were opened but that were never, or only briefly, used. The company said it was sending email notifications to additional affected user accounts. The new revelation follows months of scrutiny by Yahoo, Verizon, cybersecurity firms and law enforcement that failed to identify the full scope of the 2013 hack. The investigation underscores how difficult it was for companies to get ahead of hackers, even when they know their networks had been compromised, said David Kennedy, chief executive of cybersecurity firm TrustedSEC LLC. Companies often do not have systems in place to gather up and store all the network activity that investigators could use to follow the hackers' tracks. "This is a real wake up call," Kennedy said. "In most guesses, it is just guessing what they had access to."

https://www.voanews.com/a/yahoo-says-all-three-billion-accounts-hacked-in-2013-data-theft-/4055638.html

[The Xl]

Our government is openly evil.

[Ethereal]

Our government is openly evil.
You conspiracy theorist. Take off your tin foil hat.

[Captain Obvious]

The government is getting our data period. Privacy is dead and people are sheep. Cowards don't care.