What Is Data Breach? A data breach is an event where sensitive information such as customer information, financial information, or medical records are exposed to third-parties. It can be caused by various factors including human error, system failure, or malicious intent.
Here, we’ve prepared some of the Biggest Data Breaches in the world.
Table of Contents
1. Dawn of Tomorrow Data Breach –
The breach involved a hack in the servers of Dawn of the Future, a UK based technology company, and data of over 200,000 customers was stolen. The hackers took data such as names, addresses, dates of birth, bank details, and more, all of which are now being sold in underground forums. This breach made the news in December 2017 when the FBI seized servers in Los Angeles which were used to sell the stolen data.
2. Cerner Patient Records Breach –
The cyber security breach happened on May 9, 2018, and affected over 140,000 patients. This breach occurred because Cerner, a medical software provider had failed to update the outdated patient information database. The data of patient information was obtained from the Cerner database and could be used for identity theft or impersonation.
3. Binance Hack –
Binance, a global cryptocurrency exchange platform, suffered a large-scale cyber attack in July. The company claimed that there was no loss of assets during the attack, but that hackers gained access to certain customer accounts and traded excessively in cryptocurrencies.
4. Alibaba Personal Information Leakage –
In September, Alibaba revealed that hackers had accessed the personal information of around 27 million of its users in a massive data breach. The leak included names, contact information, email addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses, passport details, driver’s license details, and more. This incident made the news in November because Alibaba was one of the largest marketplaces in the world.
5. Wepay Payment Information Breach –
This was a data breach in January 2019. Wepay, a payment processing platform, was the victim of a hack in December 2018. A hacker obtained information belonging to more than 100,000 customers and the information is for sale in underground forums.
6. Adobe Customer Data Breaches –
On February 28, the Adobe Systems released a security advisory to inform of a data breach in November 2018. The firm stated that a hacker managed to steal source code related to its Acrobat and Reader programs. The hacker could have accessed data of more than 360 million users across various platforms, including desktops and mobile devices.
7. Nissan Car Data Breach –
A security researcher discovered that hackers had gained access to the online accounts of around 1.5 million Nissan car owners. The data breach occurred on June 7, 2019, and hackers stole the vehicle identification numbers, names, phone numbers, email addresses, and birthdates of the owners.
8. Nokia Email Account Hacks –
On August 13, Nokia disclosed a security breach in which it was revealed that hackers had stolen the personal information of 4,400 employees. The leak included names, email addresses, phone numbers, and encrypted passwords.
9. IBM Corporation Security Breach –
On September 3, IBM disclosed that hackers stole the personal information of 11.7 million of its employees, including names, email addresses, and hashed passwords. The company claims that the leak of this information happened in late August 2019, although it was not immediately notified.
10. Vodafone Customer Data Leak –
On September 4, Vodafone, a global telecommunications network provider, announced a breach of information on 870,000 of its customers. The leak includes names, email addresses, phone numbers, date of birth, and hashed passwords.
These were some of the major data breaches over the years. Let us know in the comments for any other major ones you know.
Thanks for reading.
