Yahoo slashes 25% of cybersecurity team, shifts focus to outsourcing

Yahoo has significantly reduced its cybersecurity workforce, cutting around 25% of its team, known as The Paranoids, over the past year. Approximately 40 to 50 positions were eliminated, either through layoffs or attrition, from the original 200-member team since early 2024, according to reports quoting sources familiar with the matter.

The cuts also included the complete elimination of The Paranoids’ red team, which specialized in offensive security by simulating cyberattacks to uncover vulnerabilities in Yahoo's systems. Employees revealed that at least three rounds of layoffs have impacted the cybersecurity division this year.

In an internal email, Yahoo’s Chief Technology Officer Valeri Liborski announced broader changes across the company’s technology division, citing the need for strategic restructuring. “This was a very difficult decision and one I have not taken lightly,” Liborski wrote.

Yahoo confirmed the restructuring and the decision to transition offensive security operations to external vendors. Brendan Lee, a Yahoo spokesperson, stated, “Yahoo’s security program has matured significantly over the past seven years and is recognized as a world-class operation. Transitioning offensive security to an outsourced model allows us to focus resources on critical security priorities, ensuring top-tier protection for users and platforms.”

The layoffs are part of a larger downsizing effort by Yahoo, which cut more than 1,600 employees—about 20% of its workforce—in 2023. CEO Jim Lanzone described the layoffs as a move to enhance profitability and enable the company to invest in other areas of its business.

While Yahoo continues to tout its cybersecurity program as industry-leading, the workforce reductions highlight a strategic pivot toward cost efficiency and operational outsourcing, raising questions about the long-term impact on its cybersecurity capabilities.