Yahoo Reportedly Faces SEC Probe Over Data Hacking

(RTTNews) - U.S. authorities are investigating Yahoo Inc. for not disclosing the two massive data breaches sooner to investors, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. It is expected that such a move could help clarify the timeline for companies to reveal such hacks.

The Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC reportedly has issued requests for documents in December, as it is investigating whether the tech company's disclosures about the cyberattacks complied with civil securities laws. As per the SEC, companies need to disclose cybersecurity risks as soon as they are determined to have an effect on investors.

A 2014 data breach at Yahoo by state-sponsored hackers had compromised the data of at least 500 million users, while the company disclosed that breach in September 2016 only. Meanwhile, in mid December, the company revealed again a separate data breach that involved account information belonging to one billion users.

As per the report, the company waited years for disclosing the first incident to investors, even after some Yahoo employees were aware of it. The SEC reportedly is probing this delay.

Yahoo is yet to explain why it took two years to disclose the incident publicly or about who decided not to go public sooner.

The WSJ noted that the SEC investigation into the disclosures is in its early stages.