The Biggest Data Breaches of all Time: What Can We Learn from Them?

Data breaches in business are dangerous for several reasons, but the most important factor remains financial or reputational loss. In some cases, leaked data records can damage a small company’s brand to the point where the business is forced to shut down completely. Of course, as with many things, technology has its perks.

That’s why today’s digital environment is full of amazing services and tools that help combat cyberattacks and fraud. Despite that, some of you might question technology’s effectiveness if that’s the case. Today, this article will help you better understand the side effects of data breaches and how to avoid them.

Cognyte: 5 billion records

In 2021, Comparitech’s security research team lead, Bob Diachenko, found a database that stored important information. Apparently, cybersecurity analytics from Cognyte didn’t secure the database, leaving it without encryption and authentication, and to put it simply, accessible to anyone. Ironically, the database had all sorts of information about Cognyte’s previous data breach situations, including names, emails, and passwords.

Yahoo: 3 billion records

Unfortunately, this data breach hit the Yahoo network so hard that it took years and years to recover. The damage was awful because of all the reputational loss and bad PR Yahoo had to suffer. So how did it happen? In August 2013, a group of hackers targeted Yahoo by attacking compromised users. Originally, Yahoo acknowledged the data breach only years later, claiming that 1 billion user accounts were affected in 2016. A bit later, in 2017, they updated the world, stating that, in reality, 3 billion users and their accounts had been compromised.

Phone numbers, names, and emails, along with security questions and answers, were copied by the cyber criminals. Naturally, everyone who had a Yahoo account was surprised, and shortly after, a class action lawsuit was filed against the company. Fast forward, Yahoo agreed to settle and had to pay more than 115 million for the damages as compensation for the affected individuals. And the hacker, Karim Baratov, was sent to prison for 5 years and had to pay a $2.25 million fine.

Dropbox and LinkedIn: 2.2 billion records

Several well-known names suffered from this collective data breach that surfaced in January 2019. The data breach contained a notorious number of high-profile company records, including data from Dropbox and LinkedIn. Hackers stole the information, later uploading it to the dark web with the intent to sell the data. Cybersecurity specialists state that it took several years for the hackers to collect such massive data: more than 21 million passwords and 773 million email addresses.

But wait, the story continues. Later that month, another collection of stolen records surfaced, exposing 2.2 billion unique credentials, which appeared for free download on Torrent. Even though some parts of the stolen information were not that sensitive since it didn’t include card information, the number of stolen records gave it the title of one of the biggest data breaches of all time.

Comcast: 1.5 billion records

Comcast, also known by its old name, American Cable Systems or Comcast Holdings, had 1,507,301,521 records stolen in 2020. The largest American second-biggest telecommunications company in the US had its emails, passwords, and client IP addresses stolen. Apparently, a group of security researchers stumbled upon an unprotected database that was accessible to anyone.

Unfortunately, this incident wasn’t the first data breach for Comcast either. A staff member accidentally provided a software tool that allowed outside people to access more than 24 million records containing personally identifiable information (PII) in 2014. That’s not it. In 2018, Comcast Xfinity users were shocked to find out that their home addresses and social security numbers were shared to the public, as 26.5 million records were stolen.

River City Media: 1.3 billion records

Due to a faulty backup, River City Media accidentally exposed information on more than 1.3 billion records in 2017. The newspapers called the incident “the most prolific spamming operation”, claiming that there was a positive outcome since the data breach exposed the company and its fraudulent IP hijacking techniques. The records consisted of internal company information, such as names, addresses, and IPs.

What can we learn from these data breaches?

All data breaches can be seen as prime examples of why companies need to prioritize security. Unfortunately, hackers won’t stop, and as technology progresses, their criminal activity and hacking techniques are getting more complex by the minute. Anyone can be a target.

That’s why organizations that want to avoid harmful damage need to implement security measures, such as remote ID Verification and AI-powered data monitoring. All things considered, it’s clear that if you don’t want to appear on the news for the wrong reasons, you need to invest your time and money into a proper cybersecurity system. This goes for standard users as well. Without proper cyber hygiene, users risk accidentally leaking sensitive information.