Hacking web giants is nothing now. It happens every second month, data is lost, people are suspected and if you don’t find people then you suspect North Korea, useless words and threats are thrown around and then another hacking happens and so the cycle continues.
But it looks like Yahoo tried real hard to break the cycle by doing something no web giant could have ever imagined to do, truly path breaking actions done on the part of Yahoo. They let Yahoo be hacked!
500 million users affected!
Yahoo officials confirmed that the website has suffered a massive data, probably the biggest cyber breach ever.
The breach has affected over 500 million user accounts. Their personal information, addresses may have been stolen. Yahoo is yet to confirm the extent of the breach because apparently, ‘they suspect’ that other Yahoo services like Tumblr, Flickr and Fantasy Football might be affected too.
Funnily enough, Yahoo officials in an attempt to save their own skin said that it was a state-sponsored act and the breach had existed since 2014.
For two years Yahoo was hacked and they didn’t even know about it. They suspect personal information is stolen, I say, I am sure personal information is stolen and now Yahoo to save its dignity (if it has any left) the theft becomes state sponsored.
In its latest statement Yahoo confirmed that a singular breach existed since 2014 but they were able to trace it in August this year when another breach surfaced!
Damage Control
Since the harm is already done Yahoo will simply reset all its passwords and work closely with Cyber Law Enforcement to prevent any further loss.
It’s a trying time for Yahoo. After going through enormous economic loss, CEO Meyers was hoping for a change of fortunes but the breach has just darkened the situation for Yahoo.
The real issue however is that with the passwords already stolen the hacker may have successfully infiltrated other websites related to Yahoo, it did have two years to do so.
The breach has also highlighted how easy it has become to obtain information. Stalking, hacking, leaks- everything is manipulation of personal data which can be made public at the will or whim of a person or ‘state’ in this case.
There is no privacy on the internet. Nothing is personal. It is all in the open and you may not even know about it, not before it’s too late.
Thousand and one cyber laws are made both nationally and internationally but there are equal number of loopholes in these laws to let the culprit run.
Take a look at the WikiLeaks case, Assange did a brave job leaking top secret information that put the US in dilemma for a long time and Assange if caught might have ended up someplace nobody wants to go but instead he landed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy where nobody can touch him and Assange still runs his website.
If internet is here to stay then such embarrassing breaches should be minimized else a substitution will soon be on its way!
Read On:
http://edtimes.in/2016/04/bangladesh-testifies-to-the-rise-in-global-intolerance/
