The Worst Data Security Breaches in America

More than 500 private photos of Hollywood celebrities were leaked online last 2014. The cause? A security glitch that allowed hackers to randomly guess their iCloud passwords. Despite the sensitive nature of many of these photos, the ‘iCloud hack’ was nothing more than a nightmare compared to what you’re about to read. The United States has seen far worse security breaches in the last decade which amounted to millions of records being compromised.

Below are some of the worst data security breaches to hit America.

Target 

On December 2013, this retail giant was at the mercy of hackers who managed to infect their payment card-readers with malware. The credit card and debit card information of around 40 million customers were compromised; namely the people who used their cards to buy from U.S. outlets after Thanksgiving of the same year. By January 2014, the company made a more dreadful announcement. The personal information of more than 70 million customers – including their full names, home addresses, e-mails, and contact numbers – was stolen.

Epsilon

The Texas-based marketing firm was known for providing e-mail services to more than 2,500 clients around the world. Among these were seven Fortune 10 companies. But in 2011, the company became known for something else – the databases of 50 clients were stolen. According to conservatives, the e-mails of about 60 million people were leaked to cyber criminals. However, some say the numbers reach to as much as 250 million. Major retailers, hotels, banks, and other massive companies were affected by the security breaches. Verizon, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One Bank, and Best Buy were some of the biggest hit.

Anthem (formerly WellPoint)

The customer database of Anthem, the second largest health insurance company in the United States, was hacked sometime in 2014. The official announcement came on February 2015 after the company had found out. It is estimated that 80 million people were compromised, including present and former customers. Their full names, addresses, dates of birth, employment history, and Social Security Numbers (SSN) were stolen. This is all the information an identity thief would need to make unscrupulous transactions.

Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland is a payment processing company based in New Jersey that served more than 250,000 customers throughout the United States. From 2008 to 2009, they suffered the largest data breach among American companies. More than 130 million customers had their credit card and debit card information exposed. The historical security breach was done with malware implanted on the company’s network recorded data.

It is quite obvious that these data breaches happened due to poor security. Any business who truly values its customers should consider a cyber security expert who would protect their personal information.