As 2013 comes to an end, its time to look back at the
biggest security breaches and incidents of the year. Hopefully weve all learned
some lessons from these and have been provided a stronger foundation to enhance
protection and create a safer online and mobile world for 2014.
Every year the world of technology evolves and improves
which calls for stronger defenses against cyber
security threats. Fraudsters are continuously adapting to cyber security. Data
breaches in 2013 saw cases of criminals holding PCs ransom even trying to plant
malware on smart phones via mobile apps.
From LivingSocial to Adobe, some of the biggest names in the digital world were compromised this
year, with tens of millions of user accounts and passwords being exposed. Most
recently, Target
announced the potential number of over 40 million U.S. debit and credit
accounts exposed. Along with the card number, the expiration dates and card
verification values were exposed. Experts are recommending that banking
institutions educate customers about how to protect themselves from any fraud
linked to the attack and check their credit report just to be safe.
LivingSocial
notified 50 million users in April that their information may have been
accessed including names, email addresses, date of birth, and encrypted
passwords. The company informed their users to update their accounts and
notified via email to change their passwords. It was also recommended to change
any similar passwords a user might use on other sites.
On a smaller scale, the Washington State Courts announced
that fraudsters accessed up to 160,000 SSN and 1 million drivers license
numbers this year. The passwords werent encrypted when they were stored making
it easier for fraudsters to access.
In March, Evernote had to
reset 50 million passwords after hackers accessed
user data containing user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords. While
later, Adobe was hacked resulting in tens of millions of customers personal
data including usernames and passwords were compromised. The prevalence, and
embarrassment, of ID theft in 2013 had a lot of companies going through the
process of informing and protecting their users from breaches. The Lexis Nexis,
Dun & Bradstreet and Kroll Background America breach proved that almost
anyone could have their data compromised.
In the coming year, we see fraudsters
specifically targeting mobile
devices. A large amount of consumers are dependent on their devices and don’t take basic precautions to protect themselves. These
mobile breaches can affect your company, specifically in relation to banking
institutions and individuals in the payments industry. It can take months to
discover a breach or recover from fraudulent activity. Taking every precaution
is going to reduce your risk of threats and breaches.
Good luck in the coming year and,
as always, feel free to contact us
with any questions regarding your verification and authentication solution for the New Year.
[Contributed by EVS Marketing]
