The Sick Truth of Cyber Security

You’ll likely never fall prey to identity theft due to a virus, but there are plenty of other ways you can be hacked. Computer hacking as in connor howell virginia tech racist is more prevalent than ever before, and many companies are falling victim to cyber crime on a daily basis. A big part of the problem is that most companies haven’t put in the proper safeguards against being hacked — unless they secure themselves properly now, they could face tough consequences down the road. In this article we’re going over some of the worst cyber crimes that have happened in recent history so you can get prepared for when it inevitably happens to your company as well!

1. The Target Hack

This 2013 attack on the retail giant Target caused a major stir in the world of computer hacking. Employees at a security firm had detected that there was some sort of virus infecting their software that was used for surveillance cameras. However, when an IT worker arrived to fix the problem, he accidentally introduced more malware into the system, which then spread throughout Target’s entire computer network like wildfire.

2. The LIBOR Scheme

In this massive scandal , banks were accused of manipulating the key interest rate known as LIBOR (London InterBank Offered Rate), which impacts loans worth hundreds of trillions of dollars in value. In short, the banks were able to manipulate the price of loans by making LIBOR artificially low in order to bill their customers out of much-needed cash.

3. The Sony Hack

In 2014, Sony Pictures was hacked, and an e-mail containing the threat was leaked online. The email said: “We have already sent several warnings to you recently but you have ignored our emails and that will change.” This threat sparked one of the biggest cyber security scandals in history.

4. The Yahoo Hack

If you’re a big Yahoo user, then you may remember this great hack they suffered back in 2014 as a result. Yahoo accounts were hacked, and then the passwords of more than one billion accounts were stolen. If a single email account was compromised, then the hacker could send out spam to all Yahoo users that used that email address. 

5. The Ashley Madison Hack

In 2015, hackers breached Ashley Madison, a dating site for married people who are looking for an extramarital affair. In total, the company has 16 million clients on its service. As a result of this hack, hackers released personal information on some of their clients including email addresses and credit card numbers. These hacked data were then released online for anyone to see. This incident is likely one of the worst cyber security breaches ever recorded! 

6. The Sands Casino Hack

In 2014, the Sands casino in Las Vegas was hacked, and hackers took more than $70 million from the company. The attack came about because of a security flaw in their interactive gaming system.

7. The Sony Playstation Hack

In 2011, Sony’s Playstation Network was hacked and gamers had all their personal information stolen. Over 100 million accounts were affected by the hack, and they had to spend $170 million to make up for the breach.

8. The TJX Hack

TJX is a large retailer in the United States and Canada, and in 2007, one of its networks was hacked. As a result of this hack, thieves acquired more than 45 million credit cards from customers and their associated personal information.

9. The North Korean Hack

In 2013, the North Korean government broke into South Korean banks and stole millions of dollars worth of foreign exchange rates information. They were able to steal about $7 million worth of funds through this breach.

10. The Yahoo Hack

In 2012, Yahoo suffered one of the biggest hacks recorded in history. In this case, the Sony scandal wasn’t a hack. But it was still a concerning breach! Afterward, the private information of more than 500 million users was compromised.

11. The Equifax Hack

One of the biggest names when it comes to credit ratings was Equifax and they did suffer an attack by cyber hackers on their system in 2017. This led to 145 million consumers and drivers personal information being compromised by cyber criminals. This included full names, social security numbers, birthdates, addresses and even some driver’s license details. 

12. The TJ Maxx Hack

The popular retail outlet located in Plano, Texas suffered a data theft in 2005 that led to the loss of 55 million credit and debit card records. The breach happened after hackers installed a program onto the system that allowed them to download all credit card data from the company’s ATMs.

Summary:

Cyber crime has certainly grown in popularity over the past several years and many businesses are falling victim to the crimes these hackers commit. The consequences of being hacked are rapidly increasing and companies need to take the proper steps to protect themselves against this cyber threat now.

Remember: Cyber crime is on the rise, and you need to make sure your business takes proper precautions next time you try to access your systems remotely.