20 Cyber Security Horror stories and facts that would scare you more than any Halloween movie this year!
In celebration of Cyber Security Day, which consequently is on the same date as Halloween, we decided to pay attention to the greatest threat for every company in the world- cybercrime. Businesses of all sizes, locations, and industries globally have been tormented by the financial, reputational, and regulatory consequences of cybercrime.
History of Cyber Security Day
Every day, billions of people are using the internet to accomplish tasks in cyberspace. And for those who don’t know how to protect themselves, this is a risky venture. That’s because each day, thousands of people have their networks compromised and their security stolen, due to the fact that they don’t know how to secure their web-equipped devices correctly. This includes desktop computers, laptops, tablets and phones, all of which contain important information that can be extremely sensitive, and even dangerous, if acquired by the wrong people.
This spawned the idea for the National Cyber Security Association (the NCSA) to take steps to raise awareness of this issue. Every year the NCSA continues to monitor the risks to America’s cybersecurity, paying attention to everything from the largest government office to the individual home user.
First held in 2002, the semi-annual National Cyber Security Days are coordinated with daylight savings in April and October in the U.S. and are intended to raise the public’s awareness of cyber-security issues and promote safe online practices.
10 scary Cyber Security statistics
1. 95% of cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error.
Cyber criminals and hackers often target companies through their employees. For that reason it is important that companies take measures and educate their employees on how to protect their private information and secure their work computers.
2. The worldwide information security market is forecast to reach 170.4 billion in 2022.
The global information security market is forecast to grow at a five-year CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 8.5% to reach $170.4 billion in 2022. Technology product managers will see new spending driven by regulations and increased awareness as organizations’ needs evolve to address more complex threats.
3. Since COVID-19, the US FBI reported a 300% increase in reported cybercrimes.
As if a pandemic wasn’t scary enough, as of last summer, they recorded 12,000 COVID scams.
4. Data breaches exposed 36 billion records by the end of September 2020.
2020 was already the “worst year on record” by the end of Q2 in terms of the total number of records exposed. The three months of Q3 added an additional 8.3 billion records to the count, bringing the number of records exposed through the end of September to a staggering 36 billion.
5. 79 % of Organisations were hurt by their lack of cyber security.
By that meaning, even now 13 % of businesses don’t have an email security system at all.
6. There is a 64 % increase of email treats in 2020.
7. More than 6 in 7 companies suffered a cyber attack in 2020.
8. Cybersecurity insurance pays the ransom 94% of the time.
Cybersecurity insurance is now the norm, with 84% of organizations reporting that they have it. However, only 64% of organizations have policies that cover ransomware incidents, meaning that the other 20%, or 1 in 5 businesses, aren’t protected in a ransomware attack.
9. The average time to identify a breach in 2020 was 207 days.
The average time to identify and contain a breach varied depending on industry, geography, and security maturity. While the lifecycle of a breach averaged 329 days in the healthcare sector, the average lifecycle was 233 days in the financial sector.
10. 94% of malware is delivered by email.
10 Cyber Security Horror stories
1. Microsoft Exchange 2020, 4 ‘zero-day’ vulnerabilities compromised hundreds of thousands of servers globally.
A sophisticated attack on Microsoft’s Exchange Server, an enterprise email server built by the software giant, has become a worldwide cybersecurity crisis, as hackers race to infect as many victims as possible before companies can patch and secure their computer systems.
2. In 2021, Kaseya, a Swedish software provider that provides services to more than 40,000 organizations, said it had been the victim of a cyber attack.
3. SUNBURST Malware and SolarWinds Supply Chain Breach in 2020.
The US Government and thousands of public and private sector organizations around the world had their networks and data systems breached in a massive attack believed to be conducted by a Russian intelligence group calling itself Cozy Bear. SolarWinds said that of its 300,000 customers, 33,000 use Orion. Of these, around 18,000 government and private users downloaded compromised versions.
4. In 2020, Marriott disclosed a security breach impacted data of more than 5.2 million hotel guests.
Hotels operated and franchised under Marriott’s brands use an application to help provide services to guests at hotels. At the end of February 2020, the company identified that an unexpected amount of guest information may have been accessed using the login credentials of two employees at a franchise property.
5. In 2016, Uber reported that hackers stole the information of over 57 million riders and drivers.
The company concealed the breach for over a year. Uber tried to pay off hackers in the amount of $100,000 to delete the stolen data and keep the breach quiet.
6. In 2013, the Adobe breach impacted at least 38 million users.
The company said hackers accessed 38 million customer credit card records and stole login data for an undetermined number of Adobe user accounts.
7. In one of the biggest breaches of all time, 3 billion Yahoo accounts were hacked in 2013.
The hackers obtained the names, birthdates, phone numbers, and passwords of users. Also obtained were the security questions and backup email addresses used to reset lost passwords.
8. In 2018, Under Armour reported that its “My Fitness Pal” was hacked, affecting 150 million users.
On March 25, the MyFitnessPal team became aware that an unauthorized party acquired data associated with MyFitnessPal user accounts in late February 2018. The investigation indicates that the affected information included usernames, email addresses, and passwords.
9. In 2013, up to 40 million consumers were affected by the Target hack.
Retail giant Target experienced unauthorized access to payment card data in U.S. Target stores between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, 2013. It was also determined that certain guest information, including names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses were also taken.
10. The 2012 LinkedIn Breach released more than 100 Million emails and passwords for sale on the Dark Web.
The original number released was around 6.5 million account credentials, however, in May of 2016 it was discovered to be far higher at 117 million LinkedIn members credentials for sale on the Dark Web.
How to celebrate Cyber Security Day and avoid the horror of cyber attacks?
Cyber SecurityDay represents a great opportunity for companies and individuals to reflect on their cyber security measures and ensure that their employees are well informed on how to protect themselves. This is the moment to set some time aside to update your anti-virus software and scan your computer for viruses. Also, check out the Top Ten Security Tips for more information on keeping your computer safe from hackers.
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