Which organization had the 3 billion records compromised breach?

• A. Target
• B. Marriott
• C. Yahoo
• D. Democratic National Committee

Answer: (C)

Understanding the scale of data breaches helps identify the incident associated with 3 billion compromised records. The organization involved is Yahoo, which disclosed that a breach from 2013 affected more than three billion user accounts, making it the largest known data breach in history. Earlier disclosures had indicated hundreds of millions affected, but subsequent updates confirmed the massive scope of that incident.

This magnitude highlights why robust data protection matters: when so many accounts are exposed, the risk of identity theft, phishing, and unauthorized access skyrockets. It underscores the need for strong authentication, secure password storage (such as salted hashing), encryption, continuous monitoring, and clear breach notification practices so users can take protective actions. While Target and Marriott suffered major breaches as well, those incidents affected far fewer records, and the DNC breach did not involve billions of records, so Yahoo is the correct reference for this three-billion-record figure.