Why Yahoo's 'one billion' user hack has been met with scepticism - and why it shouldn't be

11 months ago

Yahoo has announced it believes hackers stole personal data from more than one billion user accounts in a cyber attack in 2013.

The news comes after it announced earlier this year that a separate hack in 2014 had allowed information from 500 million users to be released, but some members of the public have been quick to question the numbers.

Many have even branded the hack as “fake news” – though one guesses this is tongue in cheek.

So are people right to be questioning the numbers form Yahoo?

Well, in short, no. According to a report from Business Insider earlier this year, before both hacks were admitted to, Yahoo does indeed have a billion users, with over 600 million monthly users on their mobiles.

Despite its value peaking at around 20 times what it is now back in the early 00s, Yahoo is still a multi-billion dollar company.

Of course, despite the numbers, many are still in disbelief over the hack and have been left wondering – why was I signed up to Yahoo again?

While others think there’s a lot more at stake than their personal information…