Top Security Hacks of the 21st Century, Part II

Continuing on Part I of the top data security hacks of the 21st century, PROSHRED^® Indianapolis would like to put the biggest data heists of our time in the spotlight. Though security breaches are a daily occurrence, many small and mid-sized businesses do not take the proper measures to protect their sensitive information. Many do not have adequate cyber security or protocols for the destruction of old documents and hard drives, making them easy targets for hackers. The best way to mitigate against these risks is to stay up to date with protective measures and be responsible when it comes to the handling of sensitive information.

Most security hacks go widely unnoticed, and many do not even make it into the overall statistics. These small scale heists are the biggest threat to Indianapolis businesses. Other hacks impact so many people on such a large scale that they are international news. Cyber-terrorism threatens entire countries every day, and many security breaches are making their way into the history books these days. Here is Part II of the top security hacks of the 21st century.

2011 ESTsoft Hack

During the summer of 2011, the country of South Korea suffered its biggest incident of data security theft in its history. This hack affected 35 million citizens, which is a large majority of the entire population. The perpetrators reportedly had Chinese IP addresses.

2010 Gawker Media Hack

Hackers often find online blogs and forums attractive sources for information. In December of 2010, 1.3 million accounts were exposed and their sensitive information leaked. Gnosis, a hacking group, claimed responsibility for this operation. They claimed to have attacked Gawker due to their “blatant arrogance” towards the hacking community. Apparently, the hacking group was offended by how ineffectively Gawker’s security measures prevented breaches.

2009 Google Hack

In 2009, the Chinese launched a massive attack against Google, Yahoo! and multiple other companies in Silicon Valley. They easily gained access into Google’s internal network through an outdated version of Internet Explorer. It was unclear what impact the attack had on companies in the United States. This attack prompted individuals and businesses to upgrade their versions of computer software immediately.

2005 CardSystems Solutions Hack

In the summer of 2005, a group of hackers used a Trojan Horse attack to break into the CardSystems data base. CardSystems was one of the top processors of payments for big name credit and debit card companies such as Visa, American Express and MasterCard. This company had not encrypted the information of users, so the hackers easily gained the information of 40 million credit card accounts. The company was found to have been in noncompliance with security standards.

Though cyber security should remain a top priority for all small and medium sized businesses, hackers frequently get their hands on documents that contain the sensitive information of clients. Security breaches such as these can be prevented by procedures in place for the proper destruction of hard drives and old paper files. For more information, visit our services page or contact a representative at PROSHRED^® Indianapolis today.