In the wake of Yahoo’s massive data breach, lawsuits are piling up against the internet media company.
Two separate cases, on behalf of New York resident Edward McMahon and Little Rock, Arkansas resident Maria Sventek, have been filed in the U.S. District Court of San Francisco seeking class action-status. In the McMahon case, his attorney claims that Yahoo “intentionally, willfully, recklessly or negligently” failed to protect its computer systems and inform users that their data “was not kept in accordance with applicable, required, and appropriate cyber-security protocols, policies, and procedures.” Similarly, Sventek is arguing in her suit that Yahoo violated Federal Trade Commission Act provisions and California business laws by “failing to employ reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect subscribers’ personal information.”
Adding to their legal affairs, Yahoo is also facing repercussions from the government. Senator Mark Warner is requesting that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission conduct their own investigation into the hack. The Virginia senator wants to verify whether Yahoo and its senior executives fulfilled obligations to accurately disclose information on the breach to both their investors and the public.
These lawsuits add tensions to the current investigation against Yahoo’s security breach, ultimately threatening to delay Verizon’s $4.7 billion acquisition of Yahoo.