Yahoo laid off about 25% of its cybersecurity team, known as Paranoids, last year, according to a TechCrunch investigation.
Overall, the company has laid off or reduced 40 to 50 of its 200 total cybersecurity team employees since the beginning of 2024, according to multiple current and former Yahoo employees who spoke to TechCrunch on condition of anonymity. He was fired due to this. (Yahoo is TechCrunch's parent company.)
Paranoid isn't the only team affected by layoffs. Valeri Ryborsky, who was named Yahoo's chief technology officer in September, sent an email to employees this week announcing changes across a wide range of technology departments, including the company's productivity and core services. “This was a very difficult decision and one we did not take lightly,” an email to staff obtained by TechCrunch said.
Paranoid's so-called red team, or offensive security team (which conducts cyber attack simulations to identify weaknesses in internal networks before external hackers can attack them), was completely eliminated this week, affecting cybersecurity teams. There were at least three layoffs given. According to officials, this year.
Contacted by TechCrunch on Thursday, Yahoo confirmed the layoffs, including the elimination of the Red Team.
“Yahoo's security program has matured significantly over the past seven years and is widely recognized as a world-class, industry-leading business. We have made significant adjustments,” said Yahoo spokesperson Brenden Lee. “This change reflects the sophistication of our program and will allow us to focus our resources on important security priorities and maintain the highest level of protection for our users and platform.”
Overall, the company laid off more than 1,600 people last year, or about 20% of its workforce, Axios reported at the time. Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone told Axios that the layoffs are “very beneficial to Yahoo's overall profitability” and that the company intends to “go on the offensive” and invest in other parts of the business. he said.