Whether you are a business tycoon or a student who uses internet for regular activities, cyber criminals have their eyes on you and may attack anytime they wish. According to Identity Theft Resource Center, a total of 395 recorded breaches have taken place only in US this year.
We have seen various cyber attacks and breaches over the years and 2014 was no different.This makes it a must for everyone to protect their privacy and data while using the internet, especially businesses with servers that are full of confidential information, top secret reports, customers’ data, financial info and everything else that can be worth millions in the black market. The best way to ensure privacy and security of a business’s network is by using a VPN service, such as PureVPN.
Today, we will put a spotlight on the 7 biggest data breaches of 2014.
11. JP Morgan
JP Morgan is the biggest bank in America. A recent cyber attack on the bank affected more than half of all US households. JP Morgan mentioned in a regulatory filing that the data breach was massive and affected the data of 76 million households and 7 million businesses.
The bank has said that no password or account misuse has been recorded but the FBI is investigation this to ensure the claim.
10. Spec’s
Spec’s is a famous Texas-based wine retailer, which was attacked by cyber criminals in year 2012. The criminal attack continued for 17 months, resulting in the loss of 550,000 customers’ information. The intrusion damaged 34 stores of the company.
The attacks continued until as late as march 20th this year. Spec’s fears that hackers got away with the names, credit card details, security codes and bank info of customers.
9. St. Joseph Health System
A server at Texas health care provider was attacked by cyber criminals in the month of February. The server contained around 405,000 records of former and current employees, patients, beneficiaries and more.
The data included social security numbers, dates of birth, medical info and more. Just like several other attaches this year, the investigation teams weren’t able to determine if the data was accessed of stolen.
8. Michaels Stores
During May 2013 and January 2014, the 54 Michaels and Aaron Brothers stores’ point-of-sale systems were attacked by cyber criminals with high damaging malware.
54 Michaels and Aaron Brothers stores said that around 2.6 million users got affected by the malware and the company received confirmation of the fraudulent use as well after the data breach.
7. Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services
In a result of an investigation done in mind-May, Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services figured out that their servers were hacked. Crucial information including names, addresses, date of birth and social security numbers of around 1.3 billion people were jeopardized. However, the department said that they don’t see the signs of someone using the vulnerable information in an inappropriate manner.
6. Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co.
Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co. didn’t face the kind of breach other companies or brands mentioned above faced. The person behind company’s cyber breach was an adviser of the very company. Company’s critical information was stolen using a pen drive.
The person stealing the data via pen drive was an ex employee of Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co. which was why it was very easy for him to access the server and its records. However, the company believes that none of the data was used or misused by unauthorized personal.
5. Target
Hackers breached Target server security and accessed their personal information. The information was of about 110 million customers and the aftershocks are still reverberating for Target about a year later.
In the month of August, it wasthat costs associated with the hacked added up to a whopping $148 million!
4. iCloud
iCloud hacking incident is one of the biggest and most famous incidents of recent times. This incident included the personal photo leaks of Jennifer Lawrence, Avril Lavigne, Kim Kardashian, Vanessa Hudgens, Mary-Kate Olsen and many other female celebrities.
The hack also included video clips of various celebrities. There was nothing much that the affected celebs were able to do about this incident except for the obvious statement that the photos are not of them but lookalikes.
3. Home Depot
Home Depot is the first stop for most people when it comes to home improvement needs in the US. However, earlier this year, Home Depot fell victim to a hack attack through which the cyber criminals stole up to 60 million card numbers.
Strangely, Home Depot found out about the breach after five months have passed during the continuous attacks. Home Depot CEO Frank Blake reassured the customers by saying that his team has bolstered its lines of defense.
2. eBay
One of the biggest retailers in the world, eBay, suffered a huge data breach this year. The attackers compromised employee login credentials during February and March. As a result the gained access to the company’s network and through it they compromised customer database.
The database included customer names, passwords, physical address and much are. EBay had to ask their 145 million members to change their passwords to make their selves secure again.
1. Sony Pictures
Sony Films database got hacked in the month of December and Sony employees’ salaries along with various unreleased movies. The attackers behind the data breach called themselves the guardians of Peace but there was nothing peaceful about the hackers’ actions.
Sony, however, struck back with a counter attack and used bad seeders on p2p sites and quickly slowed down the download speed of its critical files, movies etc. nonetheless, a certain amount of damage has been done because some of the many leaked videos included Fury, Annie and Mr. Turner.
Stay Safe This New Year
So, that was the list of top 7 biggest data breaches of 2014. Just think for second, if huge enterprises like Sony Pictures and eBay aren’t secure against cyber attacks, how can you ensure your own security? It will be a wise idea to get a VPN. So get PureVPN in order to be secure and anonymous in the cyber world!
