New Yahoo Hack The Largest Data Breach Ever: No. 2? Also Yahoo

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)'s latest hack, comprising 1 billion accounts, has gone on record as the largest data breach in history, according to a report by Statista. The second largest hack also came from Yahoo in 2016, with over 500 million accounts compromised.

The third largest hack was also from this year, targeting the social media pioneer Myspace, with over 427 million accounts under attack. In total, seven out of the top 10 largest hacks of all time occurred in 2016, solidifying the concern of future internet security.

“Data breaches like the one at Yahoo have become increasingly common over the past years and are often uncovered when the stolen data is offered for sale on the darknet,” said the report by Statista.

Cyber Insurance

The recent breach from Yahoo is causing more companies to look into cyber insurance policies, a relatively new concept.

“With more and more high profile cyber breaches in the news, companies are increasingly looking to stand alone cyber policies to insure their data security and privacy risks. It is important for companies to understand that Cyber insurance is not standardized and is largely untested in the courts," said Katherine Varholak, who specializes in cybersecurity for law firm Sherman & Howard.

According to Varholak, cyber insurance is important because most standard liability insurance policies have endorsements excluding cybersecurity.

“Cyber breaches can cause catastrophic loss — companies need to purchase policy limits that are adequate to cover losses of that magnitude,” she said.

Yahoo shares fell 6 percent on Thursday.