There’s no doubt that data breaches are a primary concern for people on the technological side of any modern business.
However, it’s increasingly the case that C-suite executives are catching wind of the potential business ramifications that these breaches can trigger.
In 2013, for example, the hacking of Yahoo not only compromised three billion email accounts – it also nearly jeopardized Verizon’s bid to acquire the company for $4.8 billion. At the end of the day, experts say that the breach knocked $350 million off of the sale price of Yahoo.
Counting Down the Breaches
Today’s infographic comes to us from Hosting Tribunal, and it highlights the biggest data breaches over the last 15 years.
Did you know that a whopping 14,717,618,286 records have been stolen since 2013?
It’s part of a much larger problem, and some experts anticipate that by 2021 the cost of cybercrime to the global economy will eclipse $6 trillion – a potential impact that would even supersede the size of the current Japanese economy ($4.9 trillion).
The 15 Biggest Data Breaches
Here are the most notable breaches that have occurred over the last 15 years, in ascending chronological order:
| Year | Company | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | AOL | 92 million screen names and email addresses stolen |
| 2013 | Yahoo | All 3 billion accounts compromised |
| 2013 | Target | 110 million compromised accounts, incl. 40 million payment credentials |
| 2014 | eBay | 145 million compromised accounts |
| 2015 | Anthem Inc | 80 million company records were hacked, including Social Security numbers |
| 2016 | 117 million emails and passwords leaked | |
| 2016 | MySpace | 360 million compromised accounts |
| 2016 | Three | 133,827 compromised accounts, including payment methods |
| 2017 | Equifax | 143 million accounts exposed, including 209k credit card numbers |
| 2016 | Uber | 57 million compromised accounts |
| 2018 | Marriott | 500 million compromised accounts |
| 2018 | Cathay Pacific | 9.4 million compromised accounts, including 860k passport numbers |
| 2018 | 50 million compromised accounts | |
| 2018 | Quora | 100 million compromised accounts |
| 2018 | Blank Media | 7.6 million compromised accounts |
Most of these breaches led to millions, or even billions, of records being compromised.
And while the motives behind cyberattacks can vary from case to case, the business impact of hacks at this scale should make any executive tremble.
