The top 10 biggest data breaches impacting businesses globally in 2021, up until September, are:
1. JBS Foods: In June, JBS, one of the world’s largest meat processors, suffered a cyberattack that disrupted its operations across North America and Australia, impacting its supply chain.
2. Colonial Pipeline: In May, Colonial Pipeline, a major US fuel pipeline operator, was hit by a ransomware attack, leading to a shutdown of the pipeline for several days and causing fuel shortages in the southeastern United States.
3. Accellion: In December 2020, but discovered in January 2021, a vulnerability in the file-sharing software provided by Accellion was exploited, affecting numerous organizations worldwide. Companies like Singtel, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission were among the victims.
4. Microsoft Exchange Server: In early 2021, multiple state-sponsored threat groups exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server, impacting thousands of organizations globally. These cyberattacks led to data breaches and unauthorized access to emails and sensitive information.
5. Ubiquiti Inc.: In January, Ubiquiti, a US-based technology company specializing in networking devices, suffered a data breach. Though the extent of the breach is unclear, it potentially exposed customer account credentials and other sensitive information.
6. LinkedIn: In April, a massive data scrape was reported, in which personal data from 500 million LinkedIn profiles was collected and put up for sale on a hacker forum. The data included emails, phone numbers, and other details.
7. T-Mobile: In August, T-Mobile, one of the largest US wireless carriers, experienced a data breach that exposed personal information of over 50 million users, including social security numbers, driver’s license details, and other sensitive data.
8. Air India: In May, Air India, the country’s national carrier, announced a data breach that affected around 4.5 million customers. The breach involved personal information such as names, birth dates, passport details, and credit card information.
9. COMB: In February, a compilation of several leaked databases, known as “COMB” or “Compilation of Many Breaches,” was discovered. It contained over 3.2 billion unique sets of email and password combinations, impacting users worldwide.
10. Electronic Arts (EA): In June, gaming giant EA suffered a data breach where hackers stole a large amount of data, including game source code, internal tools, and other assets. While no player data was compromised, it highlighted the risks faced by gaming companies.
Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and there may be other significant data breaches impacting businesses worldwide.