My oh my, it’s been quite the year! While we’re still 2 months shy of 2016, the world of cyber security has been shoved into the limelight, along with the personal data of millions of individuals. From health insurance agencies to online dating services, companies have made some major security missteps. If any lessons are to be learned, it’s that without the due diligence of those in leadership roles as well as their employees, highly personal information can be easily compromised at any time. Knowing that, we must all do our part to help ensure the protection of our personal data.
- Anthem: More than 80 million customer records, which included social security numbers, email and physical addresses were stolen. Much of the data was not encrypted.
- Premera Blue Cross: Hackers potentially stole 11 million records containing social security numbers, banking accounts, and medical information.
- UCLA Health: As a result of a massive hack, 4.5 million non- encrypted records containing customer data such as social security numbers, medical conditions, and test results were compromised.
- OPM: A significantly damaging breach of highly sensitive information, affecting 22.1 million+
- IRS: Hackers accessed past filed tax returns of more than 100,000 taxpayers, resulting in millions of dollars in fraudulent claims.
- Ashley Madison: In perhaps the biggest scandal of the year, the information of roughly 37 million people was released in connection to the online dating service.
Sources:
https://www.zdnet.com/pictures/worst-largest-security-data-breaches-2015/3/
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2014-data-breaches/