5 biggest Hacker attacks in recent times

8 years ago

Image Courtesy: respectnetwork

As the physical and digital worlds are increasingly becoming intertwined, the risks associated with data breaches are exponentially growing. The loss or theft of digital credentials continue to impact the credibility of tech firms and social networking platforms. Here are 5 recent digital security breaches that have created quite a scare.

Yahoo: 500 Million Yahoo accounts breached

In what is being called as one of the largest cybersecurity breaches ever, Yahoo recently confirmed that credentials of at least 500 million users, were stolen from the company’s database.

The data breach is said to have occurred in late 2014 and has compromised information including names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.

The online giant is working with law enforcement to learn more about the security breach and have urged users to change their password and security questions.

Dropbox: 68 Million account details were leaked online

Dropbox, the online cloud storage platform on Aug 30 confirmed that a group of hackers have stolen credentials of more than 68 Million users. The cloud storage provider notified its customers of the breach that took place in 2012 and have urged users to reset their passwords.

Oracle: Company’s MICROS division hacked

Oracle on August 8, 2016 confirmed that its MICROS division – one of the world’s top three point-of-sale (POS) services, which it acquired in 2014 suffered a massive security breach.

The company stated that hackers infected hundreds of computers at their point-of-sale division, infiltrated the support portal used by customers and potentially accessed sales registers all over the world, compromising user’s security.

Oracle then told businesses to change their MICROS account that are used by MICROS staff to control on-site payment terminals remotely.

LinkedIn: 117 Million encrypted passwords stolen

LinkedIn, the largest online professional network, fell victim to online theft in May 2016. A hacker, who goes by the name ‘Peace’ stole 117 million encrypted passwords from the site and posted them on a Russian crime forum.

Linkedin directed it’s users to update their passwords on the site and also asked them to implement two-factor authentication process to login to their accounts.

Snapchat: Employee’s data compromised

Snapchat – one of the most popular apps in the globe, in a blog post said that the data of some of its employees, current and past, has been compromised. The messaging platform revealed about the breach in February 2016, where a hacker posing as the company’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, had sent a phishing email asking for payroll information to an employee in that department.The employee failed to realize the scam, and disclosed the data.