Grace Ene
A timeline that is updated on a monthly basis detailing the most recent hacks and data breaches that have affected companies in 2023. It also tracks the annual statistics for business breaches.
As of the first four months of 2023, business data breaches have impacted nearly 340 million people; as a result, businesses are very concerned about keeping their customers safe online.
Cyberattacks, phishing scams, and ransomware are becoming more and more common, resulting in massive payouts, data breaches, and frequent legal action.
An overview of the effects that data breaches have on companies and their clients can be found in the new guide. The following are the main takeaways from corporate data breaches in 2023:
- Affected Population in 2023: 339,137,463
The largest hack in 2023 is reportedly from Twitter, which leaked 235 million emails; the largest hack in the UK is from JD Sports, which exposed 10 million customers; the largest hack in the US is from T-Mobile, which affected 37 million customers; there have been 275,630,000 data leaks from threat actors; the number of potentially compromised records in March is 27,235,000; in February it is 23,820,000; and in January it is 288,082,463.
The updated manual charts the salient features of these corporate assaults, segmenting them according to the date, the company, the company details, the kind of attack, and the number of accounts impacted. As of right now in 2023, the following three company breaches stand out:
Company details: US-based, sizable social media enterprise
Date: January 4th 2023
Data leak (threat actor) was the attack type.
Mitigation (People affected): 235 million
Explained: Early in the year, the biggest attack of 2023 occurred on the social media site Twitter. An online hacking forum sold 235 million Twitter users’ email addresses, which were linked to the users, for about $2 each.
Information about the company: Sizable US-based telecom provider
Date: January 20th 2023; Type of attack: Deceptive or Malicious Software
37 million people were impacted/leaked data.
Description: T-Mobile was the next biggest victim of a hacker who obtained customer information from 37 million accounts, including phone numbers, birth dates, and names of their users.
- Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder
Details about the company: US-based, extensive background check services that require subscriptions.
On February 3rd, 2002
It was a computer-related attack.
Number Affected: 20.22 million
In Brief: The background check services; TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate, which are owned by PeopleConnect, came in third. 22 million users’ PII, encrypted passwords, and tokens for expired or inactive password resets were among the details exposed by hackers in a 2019 backup database.
Lead writer and researcher; Camille Dubuis-Welch comments on the tracker, saying, “Cybercrime is rampant, whether you like it or not. Because there are an estimated 8,000 cyberattacks annually, maintaining online security cannot be taken for granted or neglected.
It’s evident that cybercriminals are becoming more inventive, that anybody can become a target, and that there is still a great deal to learn about recovery and prevention of data breaches.
Even though not every data breaches results in fraud or identity theft, compromised data is still costly for businesses, and the consequences can affect customer confidence and brand reputation in addition to the emotional and financial well-being of those who are directly impacted.
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) tools has allowed hackers to launch more complex attacks, so security teams need to work hard to stay one step ahead of these criminals.
Additionally, the guide provides useful guidance for companies on how to safeguard their data from these kinds of attacks:
- Establishing a sense of trust with employees is also beneficial, as it will make them feel more comfortable reporting an issue if they realize they opened a file or clicked on a link they shouldn’t have, rather than ignoring it, which could have worse consequences. Strict training of staff members is necessary to help identify phishing emails and malicious activity.
- All devices (laptop, mobile, tablet, etc.) should have secure VPNs set up. Keep in mind that the most secure options are typically more expensive, but for many, the added security and peace of mind are well worth the small cost.
- Enabling 2FA when applicable and changing passwords frequently to include a combination of capital and lowercase letters, special characters, and digits that are unrelated to your personal data and do not need to be repeated across several log-ins.This prevents data breaches as well. To assist, use online resources such as Secure Password Generator.
The Company Data Breach Tracker 2023 taught us that hacking, or someone gaining unauthorised access to a system, usually through electronic means, is how data is stolen most frequently.
Phishing is a kind of social engineering assault in which victims receive emails that appear to be harmless but actually contain links that could install ransomware or give malicious actors access to their systems that causes data breaches.
Phishing is another tactic used to trick people into divulging personal information, which can result in fraud or data theft or also data breaches.
Additionally, “bad” or “threat actors” refers to anyone who causes harm in the digital realm. They differ slightly from hackers in that they may not possess the technical know-how to hack a system, but instead will take advantage of a server that is vulnerable, ultimately resulting in a data breaches or other cybercrime.
Ransomware, spyware, and malware are other elements that frequently causes data breaches. Malware is harmful software that infects devices with viruses. which may then contaminate data and corrupt files.
For More Stories, Click Here.
