HYDERABAD: Since the beginning of September, many Hyderabadis have been waking up to a rude shock in the form of an email from Yahoo, wherein they were intimated that their accounts could have been compromised between 2012 and 2016. The email, titled ‘Yahoo Security Breach Proposed Settlement’, which this reporter also received, said that ‘victims’ are liable to compensation.
The monetary compensation comes after a class action settlement was proposed in response to litigation against Yahoo! Inc and Aabaco Small Business, in connection with data breaches that the company faced from 2012 to 2016. The breaches — which range from gaining access to records such as names and telephone numbers to getting into the accounts — affected all the approximately-three billion Yahoo users.
In August 2013, malicious actors were able to gain access to Yahoo’s user database, and take records from all existing Yahoo accounts. So, when it came to the fore that only those from Israel and the United States would be receiving the settlement money, many from the city were irked.
Akshay Kumar, a social activist from Rikab Gunj, who also received the email from Yahoo, said, “We trusted Yahoo and our data was compromised, and now, Yahoo is paying a few dollars only to the victims in the United States and Israel. This, despite having billions of users all over the world. This is because India does not have any strict provisions or jurisdiction for data protection when compared to the US or Israel.”