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Yahoo said in a November 2016 quarterly filing that it was
“cooperating with federal, state and foreign” agencies,
including the SEC, that were seeking information and documents
about a "security incident and related matters."
The SEC is investigating whether two massive data breaches at
Yahoo should have been reported sooner to investors, the Wall
Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with
the matter.
An SEC spokesman declined to comment. A Yahoo spokesman directed
Reuters to the company's November filing.
Yahoo has faced pointed questions about exactly when it knew
about a 2014 cyber attack it announced in September that exposed
the email credentials of half a billion accounts.
In December, Yahoo said it had uncovered yet another massive
cyber attack, saying data from more than 1 billion user accounts
was compromised in August 2013.
The SEC issued requests for documents in December, as it probes
whether the technology company’s disclosures about the cyber
attacks complied with civil securities laws, the people said,
according to the Journal.
Securities industry rules require companies to disclose cyber
breaches to investors. Although the SEC has long-standing
guidance on when publicly traded companies should report hacking
incidents, companies that have experienced known breaches often
omit those details in regulatory filings, according to a 2012
Reuters investigation.(reut.rs/2dblx5S)
Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner asked the SEC in September
to investigate whether Yahoo and its senior executives fulfilled
obligations to inform investors and the public about the 2014
hacking attack.
The disclosures from Yahoo about both breaches came after the
company agreed to sell its main business to Verizon
Communications Inc in July, triggering questions about whether
the deal would still be viable and, if so, at what price.
Other agencies looking into the data breach include the Federal
Trade Commission, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and “a
number of State Attorneys General,” Yahoo said in the November
filing.
(Reporting by Suzanne Barlyn in New York; Editing by Peter
Cooney)
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