A lot of recent merchant data breach and attacks were reported in 2020 alone. Truly, 2020 is a year of surprises. From the COVID-19 health pandemic, natural calamities, economic breakdown. And the crime that never stops- namely, cyber attacks.
Cybercrime Influx
Along with the rising cases of the COVID-19 health pandemic, are the rising cases of cyber attacks too. From malware attacks to data breaches. Moreover, these crimes worth millions to billions of financial losses for businesses.
This article will then highlight the recent merchant data breach and attacks of 2020.
IRS Data Breach
In January 2020, a fraudulent tax filing worth 12 million dollars occurred. This so happened from leakage of data from a data breach. Because of this, a US resident is now in jail for the said incident.
Phishing Scam
The Manor Independent School District had a financial loss worth $2.3 million. This is due to a phishing scam.
Wawa Data Breach
More than 30 million records are in compromise. Furthermore, these details are for sale online.
In addition, these details were concerning the customer’s personal information. For instance, it includes credit and debit card information. Moreover, the breach affected more than 850 locations.
Estee Lauder
On the other hand, Estee Lauder lost up to 440 million records. This so happened in February 2020. Moreover, report says that this is due to middleware security failures.
Denmark Data Breach
Again, in the same month of February 2020. Denmark’s government tax portal was hit by a data breach.
In addition, a number of 1.26 million Danish citizens were affected. This breach exposed their tax identification numbers.
Marriott Cyber Attack
In the following month, March 2020- the Marriott hotel chain was also hit by an attack. Moreover, this resulted in the infiltration of email accounts.
Because of this attack, more than 5 million hotel guest records were exposed.
Nintendo Hijack
In April 2020, Nintendo reported a total of 160,000 users involved in a mass account hijacking. Moreover, it was said that the incident was caused by the NNID legacy login system.
SBA Data Breach
In the same month of April 2020, a data breach occurred with the US SBA. or the Small Business Administration.
The breach further exposed 8,000 business emergency loan applicants.
EasyJet Data Breach
The EasyJet airline also was hit by a data breach. In addition, the breach affected up to 9 million customer’s information. Not to mention the financial records linked with it.
Pakistan Data Breach
On the other hand, the Pakistani mobile users amounting to 44 million were also hit by a breach. When this information was found leaked online.
University of California SF
In June 2020, the University of California lost its COVID-19 research to cyber criminals. Because of this, they paid the ransom worth of 1.14 million dollars.
University of Utah Ransomware
In addition, in August 2020, ransomware attacked the University of Utah. As a result, the cybercriminals published student’s information online. To stop the illegal publishing, the said University paid a ransom worth $457,000.
Certainly, cyber attacks plague businesses of all fields and sorts– worldwide.
