On Wednesday, Yahoo senior lawyer, Ronald S. Bell, resigned and CEO Marissa Mayer lost her bonus for 2016, based on investigations into the 2014 Yahoo hack where 500 million user accounts were compromised, and data stolen.
The board investigation discovered that several people in the company knew about the 2014 hack, including senior executives like Mayer, company lawyers and information security staff. The investigation also showed that the same people were aware of subsequent attacks in 2015 and 2016 but neglected to “properly comprehend or investigate” the incidents.
In a securities filing on Wednesday, the company’s board of directors also stated that they did not feel there was any deliberate suppression of information.
Mayer not only gives up her 2016 bonus, but also her equity compensation for 2017. In a statement, Mayer said that she was not aware of the breach until September 2016, adding:
“However, I am the C.E.O. of the company and since this incident happened during my tenure, I have agreed to forgo my annual bonus and my annual equity grant this year.”
That’s a total of $14 million, which is comprised of an annual target bonus of $2 million and an annual stock award of $12 million. That’s not including her base salary, which is set at $1 million.
No mentioned was made by the board about the 2013 breach, but the investigation is already concluded as of the filing. That leaves many gaping holes in understanding what really happened at the two breaches. The earlier one affective one billion users still remains a mystery, and all we know is that the board was unable to “identify the intrusion associated with this theft.”
Meanwhile, Bell, Yahoo senior lawyer, has resigned, saying he will receive no payments as part of his leaving the company. Alex Stamos, the CISO during the 2014 cybersecurity breach, left to join Facebook in 2015.
Of note is the fact that Stamos has had repeated conflicts with Mayer over security priorities for Yahoo.
At this point Yahoo wants nothing more than to put the whole thing behind it and go forward with the sale of assets to Verizon Communications. The sale price has already been knocked down by $350 million, with liabilities being shared between the remainder of Yahoo and Verizon.
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