Former Yahoo CEO: ‘No one is immune from hacks’

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Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer told lawmakers Wednesday that the threat from state-sponsored hackers has changed the playing field so dramatically that even the best-defended companies can fall victim.

Mayer joined former and current CEOs of Equifax in testifying before a Senate committee examining recent data breaches that affected millions of Americans.

Lawmakers said they hoped to use the information to shape future legislation.

In Yahoo’s case, stolen information for billions of users included names, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and security questions and answers.

Mayer said the thefts occurred during her nearly five-year tenure and she wants to “sincerely apologize to each and every one of our users.”

Former Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer. /AP Photo

“As we all have witnessed, no company, individual or even government agency is immune from these threats,” Mayer said.

Mayer said Yahoo has successfully defended itself against a barrage of hacks over the years and even employed hackers to test the company’s defenses.

Mayer is part of a long line of company executives and former executives who have made their way to Capitol Hill in recent years to explain how their company fell victim to a cyberattack.

She was joined by the interim CEO of Equifax, Paulino Barros, Jr., who took over after hackers exposed the personal information of 145 million Americans.

Barros told the committee he has focused on improving customer service and revising the company’s structure so that the company’s chief security officer reports directly to him.

He also said the company is on schedule to release an app in January that will allow consumers to lock and unlock their credit data.

Richard Smith, former Chief Executive Officer of Equifax, arrives to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee in Washington. /AP Photo

Senator John Thune, R-S.D., the committee chairman, said 48 states have separate laws governing how and when companies must notify consumers of a breach. He said a federal law should replace that patchwork of laws.

“A single federal standard would ensure all consumers are treated the same with regard to notification of data breaches that might cause them harm,” Thune said.

Senator Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said lawmakers need to have the political will to hold corporations more accountable for breaches.

“Only stiffer enforcement and stringent penalties will help incentivize companies to properly safeguard consumer information and promptly notify them when their data has been compromised,” Nelson said.

Former Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer. /AP Photo

Some of the most pointed questions came from Thune when he asked Mayer how the company had failed to recognize for so long that data for all three billion of its user accounts was compromised.

She said Yahoo has still not been able to identify the intrusion that led to the theft.

“We don’t exactly understand how the act was perpetrated, which explains why there are some gaps in information," she said.

Source(s): AP