Yahoo is facing both legal and congressional action as multiple class-action lawsuits have been filed and one senator calls for a probe into the company following its massive data breach which compromised half a billion accounts.
A class-action suit filed in San Diego claimed that Yahoo users' financial information had been compromised in the breach and accused the Sunnyvale tech firm of deception, misrepresentation, invasion of privacy and negligence.
“While investigating another potential data breach, Yahoo uncovered this data breach, dating back to 2014,” said the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court. “Two years is unusually long period of time in which to identify a data breach.”
The lawsuit went on to allege that Yahoo should have known that it didn't not employ reasonable security measures to protect the personally identifiable information and financial information provided to them by the plaintiffs and has requested a trial by jury.
Similar class action suits have been filed in other states and districts.
The tech giant may also be under the spotlight of the Congress as Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called for congressional probe into the matter.
"If Yahoo knew about the hack as early as August, and failed to coordinate with law enforcement, taking this long to confirm the breach is a blatant betrayal of their users' trust,” Blumenthal said in a Thursday statement.
Blumenthal added that these incidents highlighted the need for Congress to enact data breach and security legislation to ensure that companies promptly and properly notify consumers when their information is compromised.
