Data Breaches of 2024: A Case Study in Poor Management
In recent years, poorly managed data breaches have become a recurring issue, leading to concerns about corporate governance and cybersecurity. Despite numerous past examples, 2024 saw a fresh slate of companies mishandling security incidents, leading to significant data theft and potential harm to consumers.
23andMe’s Blame Game After Data Breach
Genetic testing company 23andMe suffered a massive data breach that exposed nearly 7 million customers’ data. Despite rolling out multi-factor authentication after the breach, the company drew criticism for shifting blame onto its users for insufficient account security. This move resulted in legal action and investigations by U.K. and Canadian authorities.
Change Healthcare’s Delayed Breach Confirmation
Healthcare tech company Change Healthcare experienced a major cyberattack that disrupted its network, causing widespread outages across the United States. Despite the severity of the breach, the company took seven months to reveal that over 100 million people had their private health information stolen, marking one of the largest healthcare data breaches ever.
Synnovis’s Ransomware Attack Disrupts U.K. Healthcare Services
London-based provider of pathology services, Synnovis, suffered a ransomware attack that caused months of disruption within the NHS. Experts suggest that this attack could have been prevented if two-factor authentication had been implemented.
Snowflake’s Customer Hacks Lead to Major Data Breaches
Cloud computing giant Snowflake was at the center of a series of attacks that targeted its corporate customers. Due to Snowflake’s lack of enforced multi-factor security, hackers were able to steal data from hundreds of Snowflake customers, holding it for ransom.
Columbus, Ohio’s Legal Action Against a Security Researcher
Following a ransomware attack, the city of Columbus, Ohio, obtained an injunction against a security researcher who discovered that the stolen city data was usable. The city’s action was widely seen as an attempt to silence the researcher rather than addressing the breach.
MoneyGram’s Silence on Data Breach Scale
Money transfer giant MoneyGram suffered a hack in September, causing days of unexplained outages. Although the company admitted that customer data, including transaction information and Social Security numbers, had been stolen, it has not disclosed how many customers were affected.
Hot Topic’s Silence on Data Breach
U.S. retail giant Hot Topic suffered a data breach affecting 57 million customers. Despite the scale of the breach, the company has not publicly acknowledged the incident or alerted customers.
While we hope these incidents serve as a wakeup call for corporations, the trend of poorly handled data breaches continues. Utilizing robust security measures, promptly addressing breaches, and maintaining transparency with customers are crucial steps in managing cyber incidents.
