Some people might think that data breaches are things that you would only see in Hollywood films. But the truth is that hacking is a part of our daily lives, and many huge companies have already fell victim to this.
That is why more and more businesses are looking for data protection solutions, such as ServiceNow security operations, to prevent hackers from infiltrating their computer systems. Since hacking has become a huge threat, it is more important than ever to protect your business from any data breach. Learn more about the companies that have suffered some of the biggest hacks in history.
Yahoo
Search engine Yahoo reported that it suffered a data breach from 2013 to 2014, where around 3 billion user accounts were hacked. According to their investigation, hackers were able to obtain passwords, email addresses, real names, and telephone numbers of those users.
At the time, Yahoo was trying to sell itself to Verizon. But when news broke out about their data breach, the search engine’s former owners had no choice but to sell their company at a much lower price. Reports say that they knocked off $350 million from their original selling price.
Uber
The peer-to-peer ridesharing company suffered a data breach in 2016, compromising the identities of its drivers. A couple of hackers infiltrated Uber’s computer system and obtained the driver’s license numbers of 600,000 of the company’s drivers.
They were also able to obtain email addresses and mobile phone numbers of 57 Uber users. The breach ruined Uber’s reputation and like Yahoo, the ridesharing company had to lower their selling price to potential shareholders.
Uber was planning to sell stock to Softbank. Before the breach was made public, they were valued at $68 billion. When Uber announced the hack, their value dropped to $48 billion. Some finance experts, however, say that the devaluation is not solely caused by the data breach.
Target
This data breach is quite interesting because the hackers infiltrated Target Stores’ system through a different approach. According to reports, Target was infiltrated through a third-party HVAC vendor and their POS systems. The hackers obtained credit/debit card information and contact details of around 110 million individuals.
eBay
The online auction site also suffered a major data breach, and this time, the hackers pretended to be someone they were not. Hackers infiltrated eBay’s data system in 2014 by pretending to be employees of the company.
They stole the identities of three existing eBay employees and used their passwords to get into the site’s data system. For 229 days, the hackers were able to obtain names, addresses, and passwords of over 145 million eBay users.
Fortunately, the CEO of eBay reported that the breach did not affect their revenues. In fact, he said that their second-quarter revenue went up by 13% while their earnings increased by 6%. The only drawback to the breach was that eBay saw a decline in user activity.
Data breaches are a huge threat to any business. To ensure that your company’s data is secured at all times, make sure to implement strict measures to protect your information.
