Due to the growing interconnectivity in society, cyber trends have become more frequent, complex, and damaging. Ranging from data leaks that compromise millions of people’s records to ransomware attacks that stop whole-faceted infrastructures in their tracks, cyborg crime has risen to become one of the most emergent threats to global security. Here with brief details of the ten worst cybercrimes across the globe, their impact, and some of the useful lessons.
Top 10 Cybercrimes and Date Breaches in the World
1. Yahoo Data Breaches (2013-2014)
Two examples of cases of Yahoo’s cyber attacks were in the years 2013 and 2014 and customer data which were hacked by more than 3 billion users. These security issues were previously undisclosed until 2016 and by then caused significant damage to Yahoo’s brand identity coupled with its value.
- Implications: The breaches included user names, email addresses, phone numbers, and date of birth, security questions among other sensitive information. The extension of the timeframe hampered the investors’ trust and affected most significantly, the lower acquisition price in the Yahoo – Verizon deal.
2. Marriott International Data Breach (2014-2018)
Another attack involved the Starwood Hotels reservation system which was later under Marriott after its acquisition in 2016; it was a breach involving around 339 million guest records. It has learned to operate under the radar for four years before anyone noticed the breach.
- Implications: Passport numbers, credit card details, and other personal details were released. This was sad and it gave to the world the pains that people experience when facing mergers and acquisitions.
3. WannaCry Ransomware Attack (2017)
WannaCry ransomware attack occurred in May 2017, it targeted over 200000 computers in over 150 countries with 57% of the infections taking place in Russia. As we know, it took advantage of a critical gap in Microsoft Windows and therefore affected many computers.
- Implications: The attack badly affected companies such as the UK’s National Health Service wherein appointments were canceled, and treatments were delayed. Nevertheless, they did not give the decryption key even if they were paid ransoms.
4. Equifax Data Breach (2017)
Equifax which is one of the biggest credit reporting agencies experienced a massive data breach last year where 147 million consumers’ information like their SSN and date of birth was stolen.
- Implications: The reason that led to the compromise was due to no updates on a previously identified vulnerable link in the web application. It led to several litigation incidences and this resulted in a payout of half a billion for the settlement.
5. Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack (2021)
DarkSide hacked the Colonial Pipeline, shutting down the pipeline through which nearly half the fuel needs of the East Coast are met. A kind of check that the company made was about Four Dollars. 4 million in Bitcoin to bring the operation back to life.
- Implications: The attack led to fuel shortages throughout the East Coast, a fact that exposed the insecurities that face vital infrastructure. Larger portions of the ransom were however seized by the FBI.
6. Adobe Data Breach (2013)
When Adobe was hacked it appeared that it had compromised the user details of only 2. 9 million users but later they discovered that the patient data of 38 million users had been breached. This breach revealed user names and passwords that are still somehow encrypted, and even credit card information.
- Implications: The leak contained the following information: unauthorized access to Adobe’s source code also has the potential to raise more security questions. The incident brought out the major facets of proper coding and overall encryption measures that should be followed while designing the system.
7. Sony PlayStation Network Hack (2011)
The station network of the Sony business was subjected to an attack with about 77 million user account details breached and their network shut down for 23 days. It was revealed that users, including their data, as well as credit card information are at risk.
- Implications: The breach had a financial impact on Sony as it was estimated that the company lost about $171 million as a result of the break-in which exposed the weaknesses in network security. Some of the measures that had to be practiced included stringent measures of security and issue the users affected with compensations.
8. Heartland Payment Systems Data Breach (2008)
One of the biggest credit card scandals was Heartland Payment Systems which carried out an SQL injection attack through which Hundreds of millions of credit card data were stolen.
- Implications: The data breach in particular brought more extensive effects since it critically affected some important segments like the payment processing industry which had to put extremely stringent rules. At the end of the day, Heartland had to encrypt and decrypt every message to stop future attacks.
9. Estonian Cyber Attack (2007)
In 2007, Estonia’s government, banking, and media websites were attacked by cyber criminals, which resulted in most of the sites being closed down for a few days. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest hacks of a country most especially its electricity supply.
- Implications: It is argued that this was a politically motivated attack probably as a backlash to the removal of a Soviet war memorial. It was in a position to show the general public that the nation’s infrastructure services could be paralyzed by a cyber attack that lasted for weeks.
10. Real Estate Wealth Network Data Leak (2023)
Real Estate Wealth Network experienced a data breach in 2023 where the network lost 1. 5 billion records through an unsecured database which could result in large-scale phishing schemes and identity theft.
- Implications: It also brought out the fact that databases must be protected and that proper security checks should be made from time to time. The quantity of exposed data proved to be a fact that showed the size of the threat in the sphere of cyber incidents.
Conclusion
Computer-related crimes remain rampant and have very serious impacts on individuals, organizations, and nations in modern society. Key cybercrimes discussed in detail above are ransomware, data breaches/releases, and politically motivated attacks and the ten most common cybercrimes described above show that the activities of cybercriminals vary in the tactics they employ. To this end, one should employ proper cybersecurity, learn about new threats, and be ready to apply measures for protection and, in case of an attack, be ready to respond to the threat.
