Some of the Biggest Data Breaches of 2021
Here’s an excerpt about data breaches from my new book I Was Scammed, a follow -up to The Big Con, which features the stories of 10 victims scammed by a book-to-film scam plus how to avoid scams, now on Amazon. This excerpt feature the danger of the huge number of major data breaches that have been affecting all kind of companies and organizations.
Some of the Biggest Data Breaches in 2021
From time to time, there have been news stories about some of the biggest data breaches, but this focus on the biggest breaches makes it appear that these breaches are a rare occurrence. But, in fact, they have become much more common, according to a yearly reporting of these breaches by Identity Force, a Sontiq Brand.
As these reports describe, there were nearly 100 data breaches in 2020 and almost 50 as of mid-September this year. These breaches have involved millions of individuals, and the fraudsters use these breaches to steal your identity and use that to access your credit card account or create new accounts with your identity. Additionally, they may use your personal information to access your computer or phone, post malware, and set up ransomware attacks. They also use this information to scam both merchants and customers. For example, they may use the newly created credit card accounts or your compromised account to buy merchandise, and later the merchant will suffer a chargeback for an unauthorized purchase.
While a single breach might not provide a complete profile of the victims, with multiple breaches, enterprising criminals might combine data from different sources to provide a comprehensive identity profile. Then, they can use that profile to unlock all kinds of accounts or create new ones to not only steal from the victim but scam others.
If you haven’t already been affected, you probably will because there have been so many data breaches affecting billions of users.
Some of the biggest breaches, according to the 2021annual, have included:
• An exposure on January 11, 2021, of at least 214 social media users from Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, due to a data leak from an unsecured database from the Chinese social media management company, Socialarks.
• The exposure on January 20, 2021, of over 183 million user records after a hacker attack on the stock photo company, 123RF. Another 1.9 million user records were obtained from a hack on a database belonging to Pixir.
• The exposure on January 28, 2021, of the account records of 4.9 million customers of U.S. Cellular, the fourth largest wireless carrier in the U.S.
And then the chapter continues with about 20 more of the biggest breaches.
· An attack on February 18, 2021, on the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which exposed drivers’ personal information from the last 20 months of California vehicle registration records.
· The exposure on April 3, 2021, of the personal data of 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries. The hackers posted this information for free on a hacking forum, and the posting revealed users’ phone numbers, full names, location, email addresses, and biographical information.
Then the chapter continues with about 20 more of the biggest breaches.