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The Hill
Ali Breland

Republican senators are asking Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer for more answers about data security breaches that came to light last year and are criticizing the company's response.

In a letter sent Friday, Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), chairman of the panel's consumer protection and data security subcommittee, hammered Yahoo for not providing enough information to lawmakers on the matter.

“Despite several inquiries by Committee staff seeking information about the security of Yahoo! user accounts, company officials have thus far been unable to provide answers to many basic questions about the reported breaches,” they wrote.

In September, Yahoo revealed a data breach that compromised 500 million accounts. In December, they announced a separate breach in which 1 billion accounts were compromised.

“Moreover, Yahoo!’s recent, last-minute cancellation of a planned congressional staff briefing, originally scheduled for January 31, 2017, has prompted concerns about the company’s willingness to deal with Congress with complete candor about these recent events,” the senators wrote.

Thune and Moran also recalled that at a bipartisan briefing on Sept. 26 after the first breach announcement, a Yahoo lawyer was “unable to provide any additional details concerning the nature of the incident, those affected, and steps the company had taken to identify and mitigate consumer harm, beyond what was already known publicly.”

“Yahoo! has not attempted to supplement its answers to the Committee as new information has become available, despite committing to do so,” they added.

The senators included questions, asking Mayer to clarify what steps Yahoo had taken and seeking more details on the information and individuals affected by the breaches.

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