PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Reuters has named Yahoo as the culprit responsible for hacking 500 million of its users’ email accounts.
At the time of writing, Yahoo has not released an official statement, but a spokesperson for the company told Reuters: “Yahoo is a law abiding company, and complies with the laws of the United States.”
Reuters claims that Yahoo used software to secretly scan millions of accounts, and was asked to do this by this US government.
Yahoo’s chief executive, Marissa Mayer decided to fully comply with this request and it resulted in Alex Stamos stepping down from his role as chief information security officer.
It has not been confirmed what information government agencies wanted to obtain. Yahoo was just asked ‘to search for a set of characters’. There has been no confirmation as to whether any information was handed over to the government.
However, Reuters claims that two former Yahoo employees – who now work for the United States government – requested the hack.
Yahoo is currently in the process of being brought by Verizon Communications for £3.8 billion.
