2011 Brings Major Changes in the Biggest Data Breaches of All Times Top

November 1st, 2011 by Agent Smith (1) Data Theft & Loss,endpoint security,security breach

While data breaches are as common as any other daily occurrence in the business and individual worlds, the large security incidents don’t happen as often, especially if you think that one of the breaches in the top ten all time largest data exposures dates back to 1984. 2011 is not yet over and it already is the poster child of this top we all want to see unchanged.

2011 is the only year with three major data loss incidents in the top ten: Sony Corporation with 77 million records exposed, SK Communications, Nate, Cyworld with 35 million and again Sony Corporation through their Sony Online Entertainment division with close to 25 million records exposed. Luckily for us, although it featured large incidents, 2011 did not create as many victims as 2009 with its two incidents, Heartland Payment Systems, Tower Federal Credit Union, Beverly National Bank which share the number one position in the infamous top with 130 million records exposed and RockYou Inc. with another 32 million.

Here’s the ultimate data breach top, the place where you never want to see your company’s name or that of any other company that has your data stored:

Heartland Payment Systems, Tower Federal Credit Union, Beverly National Bank – 130 million records (2009)
TJX Companies Inc. – 94 million records (2007)
TRW, Sears Roebuck – 90 million records (1984)
Sony Corporation – 77 million records (2011)
CardSystems, Visa, MasterCard, American Express – 40 million records (2005)
SK Communications, Nate, Cyworld – 35 million records (2011)
RockYou Inc. – 32 million records (2009)
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – 26,5 million (2006)
HM Revenue and Customs, TNT – 25 million records (2007)
Sony Online Entertainment, Sony Corporation – 24,6 million (2011)

For those of you who might still think hacking is fun and cool, 8 of these incidents were the result of hacking. Another two were caused by a stolen computer and a lost media storing private data. Let’s all hope nothing major happens in these last two months of 2011 and that this top remains unchanged for a long, very long time!