There have been reports of several hacks in digital history that inform the public of their casualties and warn users of their signs in the past years. Here are the 14 most alarming ones:
1. Ashley Madison (July 2015)
The attack on Ashley Madison is arguably a noble crime. The website, which helps people around the world find extra-marital partners, was attacked by a group of hackers concerned with protecting relationships.
Ashley Madison has a tagline "Life is short. Have an affair." The website promises to do their best to protect their client's privacy. Nonetheless, the Impact Team got hold of their users' personal and financial data and has threatened to release everything unless the site shuts down.
Criminal investigations are ongoing. CEO Noel Biderman has a personal suspect.
2. U.S. Department of Defense Hack (August 1999)
Florida resident Jonathan James perpetrated the U.S. Department of Defense in August 1999 to prove that the government is lax on website security.
The breach led NASA to shut down their network for three weeks. Thousands of dollars were spent on security upgrades, MSN reported.
The then 16-year-old became the first juvenile sentenced federally to confinement. The young IT expert also successfully penetrated Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. His later hacking projects led him to serious investigation causing him to be depressed. He committed suicide at 24.
3. The Gonzalez TJX Hack (May 2008)
In May 2008, the team of Albert Gonzalez hacked the retail outlets of several companies including OfficeMax, TJ Maxx, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21, DSW, and Dave & Buster's. The gang stole an around 90 million worth of credit card information
3. Stuxnet Worm (June 2010)
Iranian nuclear centrifuges were allegedly hacked by the U.S. and Israel in 2010. More than 45,000 computer networks were compromised.
4. The Melissa Virus (March-April 1999)
Melissa was a mass-mailing virus that is believed to have compromised over a million computers in 1999.
5. The PSN Hack (April 2011)
PlayStation, Qriocity and Sony were penetrated in April 2011. The personal data of 77 million people around the world were put to risk.
6. Spamhaus DDOS Attack (March 2013)
The Spamhaus Project, a nonprofit, indentifies servers used by hackers to warn the public against them. Spamhaus protects up to 80 percent of global email addresses from spam. Unpleased hackers found ways to get around and severe the operations of Spamhaus for weeks.
7. The Target Attack (December 2013)
Forty million debit and credit cards were compromised when U.S. Target stores were hacked in 2013.
8. Heartbleed Bug (April 2014)
Every internet user around the world was advised to change password because of the notorious Heartbleed Bug that has affected half a million sites. Millions of usernames, passwords, and credit card information were put to risk.
The bug started when a programmer, Robin Seggelmann, introduced the glitchy code by mistake.
9. Celebrity Photo Hacking Scandal (August 2014)
Hundreds of celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton, were victimized by the series of hacks. Private pictures of celebs stored in iCloud were posted on social networking websites and distributed online.
In June 2015, an unsealed court document revealed that the FBI had raided two homes in Chicago, USA, in connection with the case.
10. Home Depot Attack (September 2014)
Customers of the home improvement retailer Home Depot were affected by a hack in September 2014. Fifty-six million debit and credit cards were compromised.
11. Passwords Hack (June 2012)
Professional social networking site LinkedIn, dating site eHarmony, and music website Last.fm were all subjects of a hacking spree in June 2012. Personal Following this incident, netizens are discouraged from using umbrella passwords.
12. Regin Malware (November 2014)
Regin Malware is a global Trojan that caused distress in many countries such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Ireland, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Belgium, Austria and Pakistan. It targets users of Microsoft Windows-based computers. It was revealed by Kaspersky Lab, Symantec, and The Intercept in November 2014.
Regin was allegedly used by United States National Security Agency for online surveillance. The spying activities were later on revealed to the public by Central Intelligence Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. The U.S. government were bombarded with complaints all over the world for putting their nose in people's private conversations.
13. Anthem Attack (February 2015)
U.S. health insurance company Anthem was victimized by a sophisticated cyber attack in February. The personal information of approximately 78.8 million people was at risk of being compromised.
14. US Internal Revenue Service Hack (February-May 2015)
The US Internal Revenue Service was not spared from the rounds of hacking towards government services. The hackers successfully accessed approximately 100,000 tax accounts. Another 100,000 accounts were attempted to be breached, USA Today reported.