Data breaches can be dangerous for all businesses, both big and small. For some, there may be an opportunity to come back from the disaster that’s been caused, and in some cases, the damage may be minimal. However, for others, a hack can spell the end of the business. Here are five major data breaches that happened in 2020.
Easy Jet Data Breach
A low-cost airline that’s based in the UK reported 9 million data records, including 2,200 credit card records of their own customers, were stolen by cybercriminals. With GDPR rules in place in Europe, this meant that the company received a fine and had to shell out compensation for all those that were affected as a result of the breach.
There’s no information given from EasyJet about how they were attacked but during the pandemic, this likely came at a very unfortunate time for the airline company.
Nintendo Data Breach
The popular game console manufacturer suffered an attack by cyber criminals back in April 2020 to the tune of 160,000 accounts. These accounts were compromised and, as a result, some of the stolen accounts were used to purchase valuable digital items. Following this breach, Ninetendo introduced two-factor authentication mechanisms to ensure an extra layer of security is provided for its customers.
Many competitors in the entertainment industry like Netflix and Disney+ have also seen attacks on digital media targeting credentials. Netlfix has so much data about users are there are many new shows on Netflix that people watch. It makes it a target for hackers with the real time show data being created.
Zoom Credentials Hack
Due to COVID-19, many businesses and individuals suddenly found themselves working from home, which meant a lot of day-to-day communications were done via a platform called Zoom.
While Zoom has been pretty successful and benefited greatly, the first week of April 2020 saw reports of over 50,000 stolen Zoom passwords, which were ultimately made available for sale on the dark web.
Thankfully, there’s been much improvement to the platform to ensure its users can continue using it from home.
Estee Lauder
The global makeup brand Estee Lauder experienced an attack on their database on February 11, 2020. As a result, their 440 million customer records were exposed. Thankfully, no payment or sensitive information was impacted, but there were many other details, such as email addresses and IP addresses, that were disclosed.
Although it’s not quite as disastrous as it could have been, the cosmetics company may have taken a reputational hit.
Health Share of Oregon
A theft of an employee laptop through GridWorks—a third-party vendor of Health Share of Oregon—resulted in the exposure of personal medical information. Some 654,000 members were compromised, and sensitive information including phone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, and more was disclosed.
These large-scale breaches can cause financial losses and a loss of trust in clients and customers of the business. With that being said, it’s important to improve your cybersecurity with a trusted IT company in Fort Wayne. Outsourcing your security to professionals can help ease your mind in knowing that things are being handled professionally and effectively.