Cybersecurity vulnerabilities have led to some of the most devastating data breaches in history, exposing sensitive data and causing financial and reputational damage to organizations. As a result, the cost of a data breach is estimated to be around $4.88 million.
These breaches have exploited various weaknesses, including outdated firewalls, weak authentication, and poor network configurations. Hackers continue to evolve their tactics, taking advantage of system flaws to gain unauthorized access to critical information.
In this article…
Here are some major data breaches that have shocked the world in the last couple of decades.
1. Equifax Data Breach
Date of Attack: May 2017
The Causing Network Vulnerability: Unpatched Apache Struts
Details: Hackers exploited a known vulnerability in Apache Struts (CVE-2017-5638), which Equifax failed to patch. This exposed the personal data of 143 million Americans, whether their Social Security Numbers or credit card details.
2. Yahoo
Date of Attack: August 2013
The Causing Network Vulnerability: Weak encryption and credential theft
Details: Attackers gained unauthorized access to Yahoo’s network through spear-phishing, stealing user credentials and security questions. The breach affected 3 billion accounts, making it one of the largest in history.
3. Marriott International Breach
Date of Attack: Nov. 2018
The Causing Network Vulnerability: Weak access controls and unauthorized network access
Details: Attackers compromised Starwood Hotels’ network before Marriott acquired it, stealing 500 million guest records, including passport and credit card details. The breach went undetected for four years, giving cybercriminals unhinged access to sensitive information.
As a result, Marriott faced significant regulatory fines and reputational damage. It also led to a comprehensive overhaul of the company’s security practices.
4. Target Data Breach
Date of Attack: December 2013
The Causing Network Vulnerability: Compromise by third-party vendors
Details: Hackers gained access to Target’s network using compromised credentials from an HVAC vendor. The consequence of this breach was around 40 million credit and debit card records.
Cybercriminals installed a malware program in the retailer’s point-of-sale systems in the breach, allowing criminals to gather customers’ payment details. This not only caused significant financial damage for Target but also decreased consumer confidence.
5. Capital One Data Breach
Date of Attack: July 2019
The Causing Network Vulnerability: Misconfigured Firewall
Details: In Capital One’s cloud environment, a former Amazon Web Services employee (Paige Thompson) exploited a misconfigured firewall and downloaded data for 100 million individuals.
The attacker also exploited a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability to gain access to sensitive items stored in S3 buckets. This breach brought substantial regulatory attention and fines for Capital One, totaling $80 million.
6. The Breach of the Sony PlayStation Network
Date of Attack: April 2011
The Causing Network Vulnerability: Poor Network Segmentation
Details: Criminals hacked into Sony’s PlayStation Network on a massive scale after the company failed to properly protect users and payment data for 77 million accounts.
As a result, the network was down for weeks, affecting millions of gamers across the globe. In addition, Sony faced legal action and had to implement many expensive upgrades to restore its customer relationships.
7. Facebook’s User Information Exposed 2019
Date of Attack: 2019
The Causing Network Vulnerability: Misconfiguration Cloud Storage
Details: This attack exposed over 540 million records. It took place because Facebook user’s details were stored in insecure locations.
This case illustrated the danger of carelessly managing other individual’s sensitive data with their applications. As a result, Facebook beefed up its safety audits and forced developers into a much stricter data access policy.
8. Uber Data Breach
Date of Attack: October 2016
Cause of Network Vulnerability: Poor Password Management
Details: A hacker stole GitHub credentials and accessed Uber’s AWS storage, covering the data of 57 million users and drivers.
Uber later paid a $100,000 ransom payment to the hackers, which led to damage to its reputation. This incident also emphasized the importance of strong credential management and security monitoring.
9. Adobe Data Breach
Date of Attack: October 2013
Cause of Network Vulnerability: SQL Injection Attack
Details: Using an SQL injection flaw, hackers obtained access to Adobe’s database and leaked the data for 38 million users.
Adobe also lost its source code for its products, raising security concerns. Adobe had to issue security patches and compensate affected users.
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10. JP Morgan Chase Breach
Date of Attack: June 2014
Cause of Network Vulnerability: Weak authentication systems
Details: Hackers stole an employee’s credential and accessed 76 million households and 7 million small business records in the process.
The breach was caused by weak authentication measures, which let hackers move laterally through JP Morgan’s network.
After this, JP Morgan poured huge sums into cyber security to amplify its authentication and network protection measures.
11. T-Mobile Data Breach
Date of Attack: August 2021
Cause of Network Vulnerability: Security Breach due to Unpatching
Details: A hacker exploited an unpatched security loophole in T-Mobile’s systems, leaking data for over 40 million customers.
The breach also involved sensitive data such as Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses. T-Mobile promised to invest heavily in security infrastructure to avoid such incidents in the future.
12. Microsoft Exchange Server Incident
Date of Attack: January 2021
The Cause of Network Vulnerability: Zero-day exploits
Details: Hackers exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in MS Exchange servers, impacting thousands of organizations worldwide.
Attackers installed malware, allowing themselves to access corporate email accounts as they pleased. Microsoft released the emergency patches, but numerous systems had already been compromised.
13. LinkedIn
Date of Attack: April 2021
The Cause of Network Vulnerability: Unprotected APIs
Details: Publicly available user data scraped from LinkedIn due to an insecure API endpoint. As many as 700 million user accounts may have been compromised.
While the company argued that the data scraping does not mean a breach, people were concerned about data misuse. The incident is a striking reminder of the need for better API security.
14. First American Financial Corporation
Date of Attack: May 2019
The Cause of Network Vulnerability: Inadequate Identity and Access Management
Details: A single flaw in First American’s web application exposed 885 million real estate documents, including applications and bank transactions.
Emerging from ill-managed access controls means anyone with a valid URL could view all these sensitive files. The regulatory bodies scrutinized the company and ordered it to change its policy on data protection.
15. EternalBlue Exploit
Date of Attack: 2017
The Causing Network Vulnerability: The SMB protocol
Details: The ransomware attacks that used NSA-developed EternalBlue exploit, like WannaCry and NotPetya, spread across the globe and hurt millions.
There was a vulnerability in the SMB protocol, and attackers could swiftly circulate ransomware to many computers.
Global businesses and governments were forced to make emergency network patches to strengthen cybersecurity defenses following these incidents.
16. Heartbleed
Date of Attack: 2014
The Causing Network Vulnerability: OpenSSL buffer over-read flaw
Details: The Heartbleed bug lets hackers read servers’ sensitive memory, thus revealing encryption keys and user passwords.
This flaw’s widespread impact touched millions of websites, which had to make hurried security patches in all fields suddenly. The incident shows the urgent need for all industry enterprises to have robust encryption technology.
17. VE-2023-22515 (Atlassian Confluence Data Center and Server)
Date of Attack: 2023
The Causing Network Vulnerability: Critical Authentication Bypass
Details: Attackers exploited this flaw in Atlassian Confluence, leading to unauthorized access and data leaks.
This vulnerability allowed attackers to create accounts (admin) and execute malicious code, compromising sensitive enterprise data.
18. SolarWinds Hack and FireEye Breach
Date of Attack: 2020
The Network Vulnerability: Supply chain attack
Details: Attackers breached the SolarWinds Orion platform, affecting numerous companies, including government agencies and FireEye, a major cybersecurity firm.
The attackers installed a malicious update in the Orion program, granting continuous backdoor access to compromised networks.
This breach went unnoticed for months, resulting in massive espionage operations and illustrating the dangers of supply chain attacks in cybersecurity.
Keep Yourself a Step Ahead of Cyber Attacks
Data breaches can happen anytime, making a strong security architecture essential. However, building it in-house can strain both your budget and the IT team.
A Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) offers a cost-effective alternative—reducing CAPEX while delivering expert threat detection, response, and ongoing security management.
This allows your team to focus on core operations, while the MSSP handles updates, patching, maintenance, and scalability.
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