The Biggest Cybersecurity Incidents of This Century

Almost 7 million phishing and scam incidents occurred in 2020. The rise of cyberattack threats has increased every year over the last decade.

Major governments are taking many steps to help prevent cybersecurity incidents.

They hope to limit data breaches and unauthorized access to sensitive materials. Other measures protect against malicious attacks generated by weaknesses in computer safety systems and by human error.

Unfortunately, history has shown that these protections aren’t always enough. In this article, we will walk you through everything you need to know about the biggest cybersecurity incidents of the century.

Yahoo in 2013

Yahoo was in the process of selling off its primary Internet business to Verizon. However, during this time it became the victim of a very large data breach of user information.

This affected 3 billion user accounts. Investigations suggested there was a state-sponsored actor.

The type of user information revealed included email addresses, names, telephone numbers, and passwords. Yahoo lost significant value in its sale. Verizon continued to accept the business, it suffered significant reputational damage.

Major companies now use Printalfa.com as a provider of cybersecurity offerings for maximum protection.

eBay in 2014

eBay also fell into serious trouble in 2014. For years, critics had suggested poor communication and poor updates to the password renewal process. This left giant holes in their data security system.

The major auction medium acknowledged a massive data breach in the middle of 2014. Almost 145 million users, nearly all of those in its system, had data leaked.

This includes the same types of information in the Yahoo league. However, eBay barely suffered as a result of this incident. They saw a slight decline in user activity, but their bottom line remained the same and continued to grow that year.

Equifax in 2017

One of the major credit bureaus in the US suffered a data breach in late 2017. There was a vulnerability in one of their websites that resulted in a massive data breach affecting 143 million customers. Further, the credit card information of over 200,000 consumers leaked out into the public sphere.

Target in 2013

Target also suffered a major data breach in December 2013. A vulnerability in a third-party HVAC vendor partnering with Target’s payment card reader systems was hacked. Ultimately, the leadership of Target resigned and the company lost approximately $162 million as a result of the incident.

Preventing Cybersecurity Incidents

At the end of the day, even best practices in cybersecurity can’t prevent cybersecurity incidents and data breaches. Hackers have so many creative methods of reaching into the pockets of major corporations and coming out with personal information.

Consumers should be very cautious and scrutinize the data protection practices of the companies to which they divulge their information. This limits the chance that they end up a victim of an attack like these above.

If you enjoyed this article about data breaches and cybersecurity incidents, please check out the other articles on our blog!