The Internet is a wonderful thing, but there are many dangers out there, even in the online world, especially when you’re trying to keep your private data safe, so we decided to take a look at the 10 biggest data breaches of all time in light of the latest news about the Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) disastrous hack. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) which is in the process of acquiring Yahoo’s online properties, isn’t happy about this either and may seek large discounts or pull out of the deal.
As you may have already read, about 1 billion Yahoo accounts were compromised. Although the news was has just been announced, the breach actually happened in 2013 and many of us have been affected, maybe even you. There are many steps that you can take to keep yourself safe, including by making sure you don’t use the same password on all your accounts, that you don’t overshare information about yourself, that you use advanced security measures, such as two-step authentication and more.
Online security is not something to joke about. Your data can be used to steal your identity, to steal your money if banking data is involved, or it can even be used to get your personal computer hacked where private files are stored. These can be stolen and later kept for ransom, which is something that’s been happening a lot more often lately, such as it has happened in these 7 biggest hacks of all time.+
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The situations on our list of biggest data breaches of all time are so bad that the JP Morgan Chase case a couple of years ago doesn’t even make the list, or even come close to the occupant of number 10. The case, if you’ll remember, saw over 83 million accounts compromised in what continues to be one of the worst intrusions into a bank’s system. Although it took a while to get everything under control, and even longer for the bank to come clean to its clients, JP Morgan Chase didn’t really suffer a lot, its shares weren’t even affected by the scandal.
Other big data breaches that made the news, but not our list, are those of Ashley Madison, when some 37 million accounts were hacked, the Tumblr breach that left 65 million accounts exposed, or the Home Depot 2014 hack where 56 million people were affected.
We wanted to know which were the worst hacks, with the most victims, so we went looking for the 10 biggest data breaches of all time.
