Yahoo, which got its start as a digital phone book of websites, is closing that book.
Yahoo will shut down its Directory service on Dec. 31, the company said Friday in a blog post. As for why, the company did not say much beyond this: "While we are still committed to connecting users with the information they're passionate about, our business has evolved and at the end of 2014, we will retire the Yahoo Directory."
The U.S. government once threatened to fine Yahoo US$250,000 a day if it failed to assist with its surveillance efforts, Yahoo said Thursday.
Yahoo said it was threatened with the fines after it challenged surveillance powers granted to the U.S. government under the Protect America Act of 2007. The information has come to light now because the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees how those laws are implemented, agreed to unseal documents in the case.
Malicious advertisements have popped up on websites such as YouTube, Amazon and Yahoo, part of a sophisticated campaign to spread malware, Cisco said Monday.
When encountered, the malicious advertisements cause a person to be redirected to a different website, which triggers a download based on whether the computer is running Windows or Apple’s OS X, wrote Armin Pelkmann, a threat researcher.
Yahoo users may have benefited most from the “Snowden effect.” The tech company was a laggard when it came to security practices until the NSA leaker’s disclosures made clear the extent to which weak security practices by tech companies are being exploited by talented hackers.
People using Internet Explorer and possibly other Windows applications could be at risk of attacks that abuse counterfeit encryption certificates recently discovered masquerading as legitimate credentials for Google, Yahoo and possibly an unlimited number of other Internet properties.
Of the many announcements made at Apple’s recent Worldwide Developers Conference, one that did not garner as much attention concerned the pre-installed weather app on the iPhone.
The look, feel and data has been provided to Apple by Yahoo for many years, part of a deal that sends a lot of traffic back to the Internet portal and spurs a multitude of downloads of its own handsome weather app. So attractive, in fact, that the refurbishment of it was much touted by CEO Marissa Mayer and was well received by reviewers and users. The kudos were much deserved.
The $US43 billion online-advertising industry built by companies such as Yahoo and Google is jeopardising consumer privacy and giving hackers an easy path to infect computers, a US congressional investigation has found.
Now, armed with a better understanding of the opaque mechanics of web ads, Senator Carl Levin and other lawmakers are asking whether stricter rules are needed to protect consumers, setting up a battle with companies that shaped the internet.
Another one bites the dust.
Yahoo has just acquired Meh Labs, the startup behind a self-destruct messaging app called Blink and a location check-in app called Kismet. And, as with so many Yahoo acquisitions before it, the tech giant intends to shut down both apps in the coming weeks.
This afternoon, Yahoo detailed progress relating to the encryption of its various web services and properties. Most importantly, Yahoo now “fully” encrypts data moving between its data centers, as of March 31.
Yahoo was one of two companies that the NSA targeted with its MUSCULAR program, which tapped data cables between the foreign data centers of Yahoo and Google. A similar program had been found illegal in the United States. Google has made similar efforts to bolster encryption.
Reports are circulating that Yahoo is looking to launch a video site that would go up against Google's behemoth YouTube.
The rumors largely stem from a Re/Code report late last week that cited anonymous sources saying Yahoo is looking to not only launch a YouTube competitor in the next few months but also is trying to pluck some of the video-sharing site's stars and favorite networks.
