Yahoo Data Hack Said to Be Biggest in History

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (CN) - Yahoo confirmed Thursday a massive data breach dating back to 2014 that affected as many as 500 million user accounts.

"A recent investigation by Yahoo! Inc has confirmed that a copy of certain user account information was stolen from the company's network in late 2014 by what it believes is a state-sponsored actor," the company said in a Thursday press release.

A data breach affecting 500 million users would represent the largest data breach in history, according to multiple reports. Peeved Yahoo users began filing what will no doubt be a raft of class actions on Friday.

The ramifications of the breach remain unknown, but the tech giant insists that the breach was limited to names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates and in some cases passwords and encrypted security questions.

"The ongoing investigation suggests that stolen information did not include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information; payment card data and bank account information are not stored in the system that the investigation has found to be affected," the company said.

Yahoo is in the process of notifying its customers and encouraging them to change passwords and security answers and to monitor their email accounts for suspicious activity.

"Online intrusions and thefts by state-sponsored actors have become increasingly common across the technology industry," the company said. "Yahoo and other companies have launched programs to detect and notify users when a company strongly suspects that a state-sponsored actor has targeted an account."

At this point, many experts in the legal field believe litigation is inevitable.

Anthem and other insurance companies that suffered a data breach, widely thought to be initiated by China, were hit with multiple class-action lawsuits. Plaintiffs seek millions in damages.

Target and other large companies have also been sued by consumers who claimed the corporations failed to protect their personal information.

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