12 Biggest Data Breaches of the Last 12 Months

Recent security breaches prove that regardless of the technology you have in place, if you are targeted by cyber-attackers — whether through social engineering, a phishing attack or an employee opening a malicious file on the company network — they will penetrate your defenses and steal whatever data they choose. Smart organizations are evolving their approach from a perimeter defense to a more a multi-layered, risk-based security approach, but in the meantime it seems as if most organizations are vulnerable.

Last July, Apple’s developer site, where users can find tools and resources for programming Apple products, fell victim to cybercriminals and was taken offline for three days. Apple is reporting that it is possible that paid users accounts may have been compromised in the attack. Here is a quote from the email delivered to Apple community developers:

“An intruder attempted to secure personal information of our registered developers from our developer website. Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed, however, we have not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers’ names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed.”