Ten of the biggest data breaches, leaks and hacks ever!!!

Data breaches continue to happen more and more often, and there still doesn’t seem to be all that much being done to stop them.

We don’t need to remind companies about the worst data breaches; we’re sure they’re fresh in peoples’ minds having been splashed all over the news for so long.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the biggest data breaches as ranked by cybersecurity journalist, Anas Baig.

Yahoo 2014

Fool me once…

After suffering the worst ever data breach, you’d think Yahoo would learn. However, they were hacked again with over 500 million people having their personal information reportedly compromised.

This is why, after a data breach, it’s recommended that you should change your login details as soon as possible.  When cybercriminals access login details, they can (and probably will) use it to try and login to various accounts you may have, looking for a way to access more information or sensitive data about you.

Friendfinder 2016

FriendFinder Networks suffered a data breach resulting in 412 million user accounts being exposed.

Myspace

One of the first social media platforms that millions seem to have forgotten about!

The company confirmed that a huge data breach happened prior to June 2013, but couldn’t pinpoint when exactly it occurred. With so many accounts left abandoned but not closed, cybercriminals could easily take their time illegally gathering as much data as they wanted to – then try their luck with other accounts people may have on other sites.

After the breach was disclosed, Myspace relaunched their site with updated cybersecurity.

LinkedIn

The popular ‘Facebook for professionals’ social platform saw a huge hacking that resulted in 167 million users’ information reportedly compromised. Hackers managed to lift 160 million user emails, and grabbed login details for the remaining 7 million.

The 2012 American business hack

In 2012, a group of allegedly Russian and Ukrainian hackers managed to create chaos for several American businesses by stealing credit card information thought to be in the millions. Reportedly, 160 million credit/debit card data was stolen, alongside 800,000 bank account numbers.

Adobe Systems

When it was breached in 2013, it was considered as one of the largest data breaches of all time. However, it didn’t start that way as the company initially downplayed the adverse impact to suggest only three million users were affected.

This figure was shortly corrected to 38 million, but on last confirmation, a significantly larger total of 152 million users are reportedly expected to have had their login details and credit card information potentially compromised.

Ebay

145 million users were reportedly affected by this breach, which is apparently the entire number of account holders. The online company notified customers that hackers managed to obtain email addresses and encrypted passwords.

Heartland

SQL injection attacks were reportedly used to infect Heartland’s databases with malicious software. The major U.S. payment processing system saw the data for 130 million credit cards compromised.

Rambler

Labelled as the “Russian version of Yahoo”, the colossal web provider reported that 98.1 million users’ information may have been compromised. The personal information included: names, login details and any social information linked to their accounts.

Perhaps the worst part was that the passwords were reportedly not encrypted…