Yahoo Confirms 500 Million Accounts Have Been Stolen

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Search engine company Yahoo has confirmed that there has been a data breach in which information from 500 million accounts has been stolen. Yahoo believes it was a “state-sponsored actor” who was behind the breach. A “state-sponsored actor” is someone who is working on behalf of a governmental agency.

Yahoo’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Bob Lord released the following statement:

“We have confirmed that a copy of certain user account information was stolen from the company’s network in late 2014 by what we believe is a state-sponsored actor. The account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.”

Lord’s press release also stated that the company is working closely alongside law enforcement to find the perpetrators. In the mean time, the company is notifying users who may have been affected. Lord assured users that Yahoo is doing everything they can to protect against future threats.

“An increasingly connected world has come with increasingly sophisticated threats. Industry, government and users are constantly in the crosshairs of adversaries. Through strategic proactive detection initiatives and active response to unauthorized access of accounts, Yahoo will continue to strive to stay ahead of these ever-evolving online threats and to keep our users and our platforms secure.”

For security purposes, Yahoo is advising affected users to change their passwords immediately. The company also recommends adopting another form of account verification, such as Yahoo Account Key. Yahoo Account Key links to the user’s cell phone. Whenever a login attempt is made, access can either be granted or denied with the click of a button.

As an added layer of precaution, the company has invalidated unencrypted security questions and answers, making them ineffective for account logins. Users should be wary of any messages coming from unfamiliar sources. Above all, users should never click on any suspicious links or attachments.

Remembering GeoCities and How It Helped Shape the Internet

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Long before the existence of Facebook (even before MySpace, iPods, and Y2K) and before the first dotcom bubble burst, there was the Internet. Unlike newer technologies, the Internet had no single “inventor.”

However, there was GeoCities, which helped shape the Internet.

Once the Internet’s third most-visited domain, GeoCities was responsible for the development of millions of websites. Years after the free web-hosting service was launched in 1994, Thom Weisel’s wealth management firm advised Yahoo! to acquire GeoCities for $3.5 billion.

The company’s goal was to give everyone who had Internet access a free place on the web. Although there were just a few million people online during that time, the idea of owning an online space was a strange (and exciting) new medium. Other free web-hosting services such as Tripod and Angelfire also launched around the same time, but these platforms proved to be far less popular than GeoCities.

”We are not an in-and-out service like a search engine. It’s a place for people to meet. We allow for self-expression through self-publishing. We’re it, in terms of being a major content-entertainment site whose editorial strategy is solely based on the members creating the content themselves,” said GeoCities co-founder David Bohnett.

In its original form, GeoCities users selected a “city” in which to launch their web pages. GeoCities wasn’t sure how to handle the whole idea of an online community and decided to divide the content up into “cities” or “neighborhoods” where you and your neighbors should ideally have the same core interest. The “cities” were named after actual cities or regions according to their content. For example, many computer-related websites were placed under “SilliconValley” and those in the entertainment industry were assigned to “Hollywood.”

Eventually, however, the “home page” fad was overshadowed by blogs and social-networking websites. In 2009, approximately ten years after the merge with Yahoo!, GeoCities announced that it would shut down its 38 million free user-built pages in the United States.

Although many people thought the platform inspired a lot of terrible web design, GeoCities was the first big venture built on what is now considered the Web 2.0 boom of user-generated content. It gave people tools to do amazing things on their websites, including adding animation, music, graphics, and other HTML wizardry.

Imagine yourself back in 1996. You’ve created your free GeoCities account, and you’ve been given a blank page with 15 megabytes to tell the world about yourself. What would be on your page?

Technological Highlights of the 90s

The tech development in the 90s has brought us to today, when business and tech are even more intertwined.
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The tech industry is known for developing businesses that rise incredibly fast.

In the 1990s, there was an economic boom that saw billions of dollars in venture capital poured into technology companies in hopes of finding the “next big thing.” It was a time when the world witnessed some of the greatest scientific findings and technological inventions.

Fast-forward to 2016, and we now have advanced computers, mobile phones, satellite mapping, advanced software, and more.  The scope of technological advancement has significantly increased and remains exponential.

What were some of the major technological highlights of the 1990s? Let’s take a trip down memory lane:

Revival of electric cars
The American government enforced the Clean Air Act in 1990, which requested automobile companies to create cleaner and more fuel-efficient cars. The energy crisis and environmental concerns regarding pollution in the 1970s resulted in the revival of public interest in electric cars. Electric cars came into existence in the mid 1990s and continue to gain popularity. The 1990 Los Angeles Auto Show marked a milestone in the electric car industry.

The rise of Yahoo! and Google
Founded by David Filo and Jerry Yang in 1994, Yahoo! started as a collection of informative web pages, later becoming an online searchable directory. Led by Thom Weisel, Montgomery Securities, one of the largest investment firms at that time, helped manage Yahoo’s IPOs during the rise of tech stocks. During the dot-com bubble, the company’s stock price skyrocketed to an all-time high of $118.75 USD in 2000.

Considered one of the biggest inventions of all time, Google happened in 1998. Started as a research project by two scholars at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin introduced the concept of page rankings in search engines. Google served over 10,000 search queries a day and quickly gained a reputation as a trustworthy source of information. By 1999, it was serving 500,000 queries a day.

Apple’s iMac
The iMac was launched in 1998 and was known for its innovative computer experience and unique design. During that time, personal computers were dull beige boxes involving minimal artistry. Apple took this opportunity to reinvent the computer with bold designs and outlandish colors.

Apple’s vision for computers hasn’t changed in the last 30 years, when the first Mac ads told people to “try the computer you already know how to use.”

Bluetooth 1.0
Mobile wireless file sharing was introduced in 1999 with the invention of Bluetooth technology, allowing electronic devices to communicate wirelessly. Portable personal computers and laptops were the first devices to use Bluetooth technology; it’s now a standard feature in all smartphones.

The tech industry continues to impress and innovate today with a constant stream of impressive new items designed to make our lives simpler and more plugged in. Since the 1990s, the technology sector has been a great place for a business to be. What will they think of in the next 30-odd years…?

Yahoo to Make Its Way Into Original Programming

While Yahoo has been focused on acquiring companies lately (do Tumblr, EventLife, or Distill ring a bell?) they are going to have a new focus soon – original programming.

Yahoo is close to ordering four high-quality online TV series with budgets of as much as a “few million dollars” per episode, according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal. This would put Yahoo in competition with big companies such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.

Although a lot of people may not know it, Yahoo has offered originally programming in the past, but has only creates short web series. Yahoo announced an exclusive deal for the entire video catalogue of Saturday Night Live around this time last year and followed that up a few months later with the hiring of news anchor Katie Couric.

“While our video offering is still nascent, we have made some good progress in 2013,” Mayer, Yahoo’s CEO, told investors in an earnings call in January. “With our continued commitment to expanding our video offering, we believe we are well positioned to grow video revenue in 2014.”

Yahoo was first rumored to be looking to buy Dailymotion, and is now reportedly looking to buy News Distribution Network (NDN).

“You can produce a good long-term business, but you should have a fully baked out strategy. Otherwise there will be a lot of money lost making something that most people would deem successful,” Wieser says. “If you are spending a couple million dollars on a half-hour episode, you can’t afford to have misses. You need to have hits.”

Yahoo’s video audience in the U.S. increased by 14% year-over-year, according to data from comScore. It is still behind competitors such as Facebook and Google.

Only time will tell with Yahoo. While Netflix has been extremely successful with Orange is the New Black and House of Cards, they have made several other attempts that have not been as popular.

Yahoo Announces What They Plan to Do With Tumblr

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When Yahoo purchased Tumblr for $1.1 billion, some people were a little confused. The answer was made clear on Tuesday, when Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer announced at the company’s CES event. Yahoo will simplify the purchasing of ads on Yahoo’s various properties, including Tumblr.

“The new Yahoo Advertising includes a comprehensive suite of web, mobile, and video ad products across native, audience, and premium display, which are accessible through a new buying platform. These products are supported by Yahoo’s data and analytical tools, with insights into the daily digital habits of more than 800 million people worldwide,” Yahoo wrote in a blog post.

Not very many advertising analytics have been available for markers on Yahoo. Until now, marketers haven’t been able to buy by gender or location. For Tumblr, advertisers will only have to pay when their Tumblr ad is reblogged, liked or followed or if there’s a direct click to the ad.

David Karp, the founder of Tumblr, is working closely with Mayer.

Yahoo’s stock is up 160% since she became chief executive — advertising revenue has continued to decline.