In 2017, The Economist named data the world’s most valuable resource. This apt phrase does not lose its relevance even today. And in a sense, its importance grows over time.
According to recent reports, data breaches surged by 67% in the past year alone, with over 5 billion records exposed globally. These leaks, ranging from personal credentials (names, addresses, Social Security numbers, credit card details, login credentials, or other sensitive information) to sensitive corporate data, signals the urgent need for robust cybersecurity measures such as decentralized VPN. Data breaches, occurring almost every single day shows, that none of the data is as safe as we used to think.
A series of data breaches in 2023
2023 was full of impactful data breaches, leaving a unique mark on cybersecurity in the U. S. According to publicly available data, the most intense cyber-attacks and malware trends were observed from January to May. From May to July, they slightly decreased, then slightly intensified. And from October to December, it became the smallest compared to other months during the year.
The USA leads the world in terms of the number of cyber-attacks. Therefore, it is not surprising that this is the country where these attacks cause the most damage and bring the most losses. Here are some of the most reported data breaches in the US in 2023:
- January. The year 2023 began with a data breach from popular email marketing platform MailChimp. The data of 133 customers was stolen. MailChimp assured that no credit card or password information was compromised in this incident. One of the customers affected by this breach was WooCommerce, a popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress.
- February was a month, when Activision (renowned for games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft) disclosed the fact about a data breach that happened in December 2022. in February 2023. Attackers infiltrated internal systems via an SMS phishing attack on an HR employee, obtaining sensitive data including employee details and upcoming game content.
- In March ChatGPT faced a significant data breach. Approximately 1.2% of ChatGPT Plus subscribers were affected. Their names, email addresses and partial credit card details were exposed and it caused significant damage.
- In May transfer software MOVEit experienced an incident impacting over 1,000 organizations and 60 million individuals worldwide. With estimated damages reaching $65 billion, Progress Software swiftly responded with patches, yet the breach underscores the pervasive risks of software vulnerabilities in the digital age.
- June was the month when JumpCloud fell victim to a data breach. While the extent of damage remains undisclosed, JumpCloud swiftly responded, resetting API keys, enhancing security measures, and sharing indicators of compromise to fortify defenses against similar attacks, emphasizing the critical need for robust cybersecurity measures in the face of persistent threats.
- October. That was the month, when genetic testing company 23andMe faced a significant data breach, exposing vulnerabilities in safeguarding sensitive genetic and personal information. Unauthorized access to the “DNA Relatives” feature compromised personal data, including display names, birth years, and genetic ancestry details, impacting millions of users. The breach, likely due to a ‘credential stuffing attack,’ prompted immediate security measures, including email two-step verification and feature restrictions.
- November. In November 2023, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), a vital arm of the U.S. Department of Energy renowned for its nuclear energy research, fell victim to a significant data breach. The breach targeted INL’s Oracle Human Capital Management servers, compromising extensive personal data of employees and citizens. Perpetrated by the SiegedSec hacking group, the breach exposed sensitive information such as Social Security numbers and health details.
Biggest breaches in the USA in 2024
According to IT governance USA, 875,603,102 known records have been breached so far in 1,819 publicly disclosed incidents. This is truly staggering statistics. Zenlayer (Telecoms), Pure Incubation Ventures (Professional services), 916 Google Firebase websites (Retail), IoanDepot (Finance), Trello (IT services and software), Eye4Fraud (Finance), Discord (IT services and software), OpenSea (IT services and software), Change Healthcare (Health care) and Optum (Health care) got into the list of companies, experienced TOP 10 biggest breaches during the first three months of 2024. 4 of them were executed in February; 3 in January and 3 in March 2024.
What awaits next?
We can only speculate. Experts say that data breaches may cost the global economy $9.5 trillion in 2024. Observing current trends, it is obvious that cyber-attacks will only increase in the future. Consequently, personal data will become more and more insecure, and the damage caused will increase every year.
That is why it is important to pay attention to the security of your data online and do everything you can to keep it safe. We must remember that even with the use of innovative protection measures, we can be outsmarted by cyber criminals indeed.
