Reports: Verizon Says Yahoo Hack Could Impact Acquisition

Verizon's top lawyer says the massive data breach of Yahoo email accounts could impact the telecommunication giant's plans to buy the technology company, according to published reports.

Craig Silliman, Verizon's general counsel, told reporters at a roundtable in Washington that the data breach, which impacted more than 500 million of Yahoo's user accounts, could trigger a clause in Verizon's agreement to buy Yahoo that would allow Verizon to walk away from the deal, Reuters reported Thursday.

"I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material and we're looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact. If they believe that it's not, then they'll need to show us that," Silliman said, according to Reuters.

[RELATED: Verizon Remains Mum On Yahoo Acquisition Status In Aftermath Of Hack]

But he declined to comment on whether talks are under way to renegotiate the purchase price of $4.83 billion the two sides reached in July.

In a statement provided to several media outlets after Silliman's comments, Yahoo expressed confidence in the company's value and said "we continue to work toward integration with Verizon."

According to Reuters, the deal contains a clause that says Verizon can withdraw if a new event "reasonably can be expected to have a material adverse effect on the business, assets, properties, results of operation or financial condition of the business.’

Yahoo confirmed the hack last month. The hack, which Yahoo said was a state-sponsored attack, exposed account information of millions of users, including names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birthdays, hashed passwords and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers, according to an earlier Yahoo statement on the security breach.

Yahoo stock was trading up at about 0.7 percent in early trading Friday, to $41.87 a share. Verizon stock was also up by close to 0.6 percent, to $50.58.