Data breach: Major internet companies that have faced the public wrath
Data breach is trending among internet companies
Over the past few years multinational organisations have had their servers hacked by miscreants, resulting in the loss of data such as credit card information, mobile phone number, email address and in some cases in bank account information.
Here are a few of the biggest companies that have been targeted:
Agencies
Uber's failed cover-up
The data breach resulted in the company's chief security officer losing his job.
Some 600,000 us driver's license numbers along with names, email addresses and phone numbers were compromised.
Uber faced lawsuits in the US and the UK over the data breach. In September 2018, after a 10-month-long investigation, Uber agreed to pay $148 million to settle the case.
AP
Hackers favourite Facebook
In September 2018 facebook revealed that 30 million accounts were affected in another data breach.
Hackers were able to gather names, religion, workplace information, search activity and recent check-ins of the 30 million victims of the breach.
On October 12, facebook said that passwords and credit card information of users was not accessed by the hackers and also told that Instagram and Tinder remain unaffected of the breach.
The data accessed by the hackers may now be used by them for phishing attacks or to access personal databases which may further result in identity theft.
Reuters
Biggest ever data breach
Thieves were able to take names, birth dates, phone numbers and passwords of users. Yahoo said that the information was crypted but the hackers were able to crack it.
After the breach went public, Yahoo faces several shareholder lawsuits.
The data was stolen in 2013 and remained unused till 2016, when a hacking collective based in Eastern Europe sold the data to three buyers.
AP
When poor server security made LinkedIn pay
The hacked accounts were in-accessible to their users and the passwords were posted on Russian password forum.
In May 2016, LinkedIn discovered an additional 100 million email addresses and hashed passwords that claimed to be additional data from the same 2012 breach.
Cyber security experts said that passwords on the LinkedIn website were easy to access due to lack of security used by the website.
BCCL
Cathay Pacific goes down the same path
The airline said it had discovered suspicious activity on its network in March and confirmed unauthorised access to certain personal data in early May.
The airline admitted about 860,000 passport numbers, 245,000 Hong Kong identity card numbers, 403 expired credit card numbers and 27 credit card numbers with no card verification value (CVV) were accessed.
News of the leak sent shares in Cathay, which was already under pressure as it struggles for customers, plunging more than six per cent to a nine-year low in Hong Kong trading.
Reuters
