Yahoo looked into hack 18 months later
SAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo detected evidence that a hacker had broken into its computer network at least 18 months before starting an investigation that discovered personal information had been stolen from about 500 million user accounts.
The timeline outlined in a regulatory filing raises further questions about why it took Yahoo so long to realize the severity of its security breakdown. It also could provide Verizon Communications with reason to revise or terminate its $4.8 billion deal to buy Yahoo's online services.
Yahoo disclosed the size of the breach seven weeks ago. At that time, Yahoo traced its findings to an inquiry opened in late July, around the same time that Verizon announced its agreement to buy Yahoo's email service, digital advertising tools and sections devoted to news, sports, finance and entertainment.
Verizon says it wasn't informed of the hacking attack until a few days before Yahoo told its users in late September.
In its regulatory filing, Yahoo acknowledged the company first became aware of the hack in late 2014. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company said its board is now investigating how much was known back in 2014.
-- The Associated Press
American Airlines flying high with Wi-Fi
American Airlines Group Inc. plans to install faster Wi-Fi on 500 more aircraft in its domestic fleet, bolstering an earlier order for ViaSat Inc. while dealing a blow to current service provider Gogo Inc.
American has more than 1,100 aircraft with Wi-Fi service, a number the airline said gives it one of the largest Wi-Fi-equipped fleets in the world. ViaSat's largest North American customer to date is JetBlue Airways Corp., which provides the service to passengers for free through a marketing partnership with Amazon.com Inc.
In June, the world's largest airline split an order between the two Wi-Fi providers, with ViaSat contracted for service on 100 new Boeing 737 Max planes and Gogo tapped to install its new 2Ku satellite service on more than 130 Airbus A319s and A320s. The ViaSat installations begin in the summer of 2017, while the Gogo additions will begin late next year, American Airlines spokesman Martha Thomas said Wednesday.
Carlsbad, Calif.-based ViaSat operates its own satellites, while Gogo and Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. contract with other satellite companies.
"Gogo will still be outfitting other aircraft in our domestic fleet with its 2Ku satellite Wi-Fi, and Panasonic [Avionics] continues to provide satellite Wi-Fi for our international widebody fleet," Thomas said.
Gogo spokesman Steve Nolan said in an email Wednesday that American's announcement is "really old news and confirms what we said in our June 3 public statement. It doesn't change our business outlook and financial guidance."
-- Bloomberg News
Talks to take LifeLock private reported
LifeLock Inc., the provider of identity-theft protection services, is in talks with several parties about being taken private, people familiar with the matter said.
Final bids for the company are due this month and could value LifeLock at about $2 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. Buyout firm TPG is among potential suitors, two of the people said.
Elliott Management Corp., the activist investment group founded by Paul Singer, revealed a stake in LifeLock in June and owns about 11 percent of the Tempe, Ariz.-based company. LifeLock is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on the sale, the people said.
Shares of LifeLock jumped as much as 14 percent to $20.03 in New York trading Friday, giving the company a market value of about $1.9 billion. The stock closed at $19.12, up $1.48, or 8.4 percent.
Representatives for LifeLock, TPG, Elliott and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
-- Bloomberg News
Machines offer $130 video sunglasses
LOS ANGELES -- People lined up last week near the Venice boardwalk in Los Angeles to be among the first to buy Snapchat Spectacles.
The $130 video-camera sunglasses are being sold through big yellow automated vending machines. Tapping a button near the left hinge of the Spectacles activates a camera in the corner of the left lens. It takes circular-cropped videos of up to 30 seconds each. The clips can be transferred wirelessly to the Snapchat smartphone app, where they can be shared with friends.
It's not clear whether Spectacles will be coveted among Snapchat's hundreds of millions of users worldwide. It's the company's first piece of high-tech hardware among the many software features Snapchat has released over the past five years, including photo effects and filters.
Like video stories on the Snapchat app that can be accessed for only 24 hours, a Snapbot vending machine will stand in the same spot for only about a day, the company said. Venice, the Los Angeles neighborhood where Snapchat developer Snap Inc. has headquarters, is the first stop.
People will be informed of new locations through a map on Spectacles.com, geofilter stickers that will appear in the app and balloons on top of the vending machine.
-- The Los Angleles Times
In Istanbul, Uber rival rides into town
A Turkish startup is beginning a cab-hailing service in Istanbul, where Uber Technologies Inc. is already facing increased opposition from the yellow taxis that dominate the city.
Olev, owned by Olev Tasimacilik Teknoloji Gelistirme Turizm AS, began with a fleet of 250 cars, Chief Executive Officer Ertunc Ciris said by phone. The company, in which Mountain View, Calif.-based 500 Startups Management Co. LLC has a minority stake, plans to expand the fleet to 1,500 within a year, he said.
Uber started offering services in Istanbul's $1.5 billion taxi market in 2014, taking on the more than 18,000 local yellow cabs in the city of 17 million people. The San Francisco-based operator is facing mounting protests from yellow-cab drivers, who are losing market share as they struggle to maintain their cars and the quality of services with some of the lowest fares in the world.
Ciris said about 80 percent of Olev's drivers have joined from Uber, which he said uses 400 cars in Istanbul.
-- Bloomberg News
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