Reports of cyber attacks and data breaches have peppered the news more frequently in
recent years — it’s rare to go a week without hearing of the latest lapse in cybersecurity.
Today, we’re here to talk about the top 5 biggest and most notorious cyber attacks
in recent times.
You’ll be surprised just how advanced cyber warfare has come.
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Let’s jump straight into it!
5.
The Lazarus Heist Had it succeeded, this 2016 plot from North
Korean sponsored hackers, was moments away from becoming the biggest bank heist in history.
If it weren’t for some strange coincidences and pure luck, Bangladesh’s national bank
would have lost just under 1 billion dollars.
This bank heist was done entirely through hacked computers and a devious, socially engineered
campaign.
The hackers, known as The Lazarus Group, jumped from computer to computer until they gained
access to the Bangladesh bank’s security systems.
If you want the
full in-depth story of this insane cyberheist, check the description
below.
4.
The 3 billion Yahoo breach We can’t mention the biggest cyberattacks
without talking about the biggest data breach in internet history: The Yahoo 2013-2016 data
breach.
This attack was particularly notorious in how it wasn’t reported to the victims until
3 years later.
With the original breach happening in late 2013/early 2014, it wasn’t fully addressed
until 2016.
At that point, 3 billion people’s account information had been accessed by a Russian
hacking group.
Luckily, only passwords and security questions were stolen.
Credit card info and payment credentials were mostly untouched.
This data breach is especially damning on the part of Yahoo as the best way to combat
a leak is to act immediately.
Allowing hackers 3 years to decide what they want to do with user data instead of reporting
it is a good way to make victims lose trust.
3.
Ukraine power grid takedown In the world’s first example of a cyberattack
damaging infrastructure, half of Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region was plunged into darkness
for up to 6 hours on December 23rd, 2013.
30 substations went down and around 230,000 residents were deprived of electricity.
This attack showcased the more frightening capabilities of a cyber assault in this modern
age of warfare.
On that night, a few more Ukrainian energy providers came under attack from Russian-sourced
hackers.
Luckily, no more power grids were affected.
Without the proper defenses, and under sustained cyber attacks, entire country’s could be
left in complete chaos.
2.
The biggest password leak of all time A 100GB collection of 8.4 billion passwords
has been leaked online.
Cybersecurity experts were made aware of this trove in June 2021.
The sheer number of passwords should put everyone watching this video on alert.
Bear in mind that there are only around 4.7 billion worldwide internet users.
If that wasn’t a good enough reminder to change your passwords then I don’t know
what is!
If you’re worried that some of your passwords may have been included in the leak, make sure
you check out haveibeenpwned.com.
Enter your email or phone number and it’ll check if your details have been compromised
in any recorded data breaches.
1.
The most costly hack in history In 2011, Epsilon, one of the world’s largest
providers of marketing via email, was hacked.
Their email system was broken into and a collection of email addresses and customer names were
leaked online.
Unfortunately for Epsilon, some of their clients were huge corporate entities.
The top 3 US banks relied on using their systems, and had all been compromised in the leak.
Due to the amount of customers leaked, the financial clout they wielded, Epsilon is predicted
to have to pay upwards of 4 billion dollars in damages.
So there we have it, some of the biggest and most notorious cyber attacks of all time!
Are there any cyberattacks you think we should have included?
Let us know in the comments below To stay up to date with all your cybersecurity
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