In the last ten years, there have been approximately 300 data breaches that have succeeded in stealing more than 100,000 records. In 2020, the total number of data breaches in the US came up to 1001 cases, during which more than 155.8 million people were affected, and their sensitive information was exposed or leaked.
Today, we’ll discuss some of the biggest data breaches in the 21st century.
1. Yahoo (2013-2014)
The data breach at Yahoo was massive and affected more than 3 billion users. The breach of the company’s network caused the theft of user account information, and it was alleged that the thieves were state-sponsored actors.
The stolen information included names, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, security questions and answers, and hashed passwords. The breach happened while Yahoo was in sales negotiations with Verizon.
Consequently, Yahoo was forced to decrease its selling price by 350 million dollars, and the reputation damage led to Verizon changing its name to Altaba Inc.
2. eBay (2014)
In May 2014, eBay acknowledged that it had suffered a data breach that impacted more than 145 million users. The hackers were able to gain access into the company’s network and steal user information, including names, dates of birth, addresses, and encrypted passwords.
3. Uber (2016)
Uber was also the victim of a data breach where the personal and sensitive information of 57 million users and 600,000 Uber drivers was stolen. The company didn’t acknowledge the data breach until a year later.
They also paid $100,000 to the hackers to destroy the stolen data. The breach adversely affected the organization’s reputation and reduced its monetary value from 68 billion dollars to 48 billion dollars.
4. Equifax (2017)
Equifax is one of the largest and most well-known credit bureaus in the United States. In September 2017, the company announced that one of their websites had an application vulnerability that caused a data breach.
The data breach was on a large scale. More than 143 million customers had their personal information stolen, including their birth dates, social security numbers, and addresses stolen while 209,000 consumers had their credit card information stolen.
Protect your dental practice or small business in Texas from a data breach by implementing a secure IT system. Foris LLC is a managed IT service provider, and they offer security services and IT services to customers. Visit their website or contact them today.
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