So long as some manner of data is being gathered by any organization, there will be those who do their damnedest to steal it. It’s unfortunate that it happens but we can’t pretend like it does not. Over the years there have been some really big data breaches affecting folks around the U.S. Let’s look at 5 of the really big ones that have happened over the years.
5 Of The Biggest Data Breaches
Equifax Breach
Cast your minds back to the ancient days of 2017, specifically September 7th. On that day, it was revealed that an estimated 143 million people’s private information had been accessed by hackers. The actual attack happened from May-June of that year and was only revealed several months later.
Around 209,000 people had their credit card information accessed, and 182,000 had other information accessed. This breach remains one of the most infamous because of the type and sheer volume of stolen information.
Yahoo Breach
The old search engine itself is the unfortunate winner of the “Biggest Data Breach to Date” prize. Two absolutely massive data breaches happened in 2013, several months apart, and over 3 billion people were affected. Yes, you read that number correctly. That comes out to literally every Yahoo user getting their information stolen. Hackers were able to steal credit card details, bank account information, passwords, addresses, and IDs.
There were financial losses for some of Yahoos clients. Eventually, Yahoo agreed to a $50 million settlement for those eligible.
Target Breach
Another breach happened in 2013. This time the target was, well, Target. This breach hit 110 million people, and approximately 40 million had their debit card and credit card information stolen. Starting on the Black Friday, no less!
To make things worse, another 70 million had names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, and the kitchen sink stolen. There is one spot of good news: one of the hackers was caught and sentenced to 14 years behind bars, so there’s that.
Marriott Breach
In an age long past, 2018, the Marriott hotel chain suffered a massive data breach. The personal information of 500 million guests was stolen. Passport numbers, credit card information, names, addresses, etc., were all taken. Marriott gets the silver medal for being the second-largest data breach to date, behind Yahoo.
eBay Breach
February and March of 2014 saw 145 million users’ personal information, passwords, etc stolen by a hacker using compromised eBay employee log-in information. In this particular situation, there was no evidence to suggest any kind of credit or financial information was stolen along with the other data. As with various other breaches, this data breach was not detected until a little while after it had already happened.
Breaches Still Happening
So there we have 5 of the big data breaches thus far. It’s unfortunate that we need to think of these things as “thus far,” but the world is ever more connected each day. In order to better protect ourselves, be vigilant on what information you put out there. Sometimes it is better to avoid signing up for something when all they want is your life’s details.
For any details that remain on paper, there’s FileShred. Give us a call at (855) 54-SHRED or send us a message to learn more about how we can help you reduce the chances of lost or stolen information.
