We live in a digital world, where we don’t think twice about making payments online or uploading personal information to social media pages. We place a lot of trust in the safety of uploading our information online, but what happens when that trust is breached? Whether the target was individual consumers or a multinational corporation, hackers can compromise the web, for evil or good. The countdown to follow highlights some of the best hacks in the modern age.
10. Operation Shady Rat
Operation Shady Rat is one of the biggest recent government hacks. Beginning in 2006, an anonymous hacker compromised the intellectual property of 70 private and public organizations across 14 countries; 49 of 70 hacks targeted U.S. companies. The hack involved installing remote access tools onto computers, enabling the hacker to monitor the activity on those systems.
Operation Shady Rat was live for five years, resulting in the capture of tons of sensitive information, including email feeds, classified government documents, blueprints for future oil and gas field auctions and design plans for other future technologies. Although the identity of the hacker was never revealed, some believe North Korea is behind the scheme.
9. China hacks U.S. defense operations
Image courtesy of Security Affairs
One of the most recent hacks of our day is the 2014 China hack of U.S. military information. According to the U.S. Senate Panel, China was behind 20 hacks last year, all pertaining to the monitoring of U.S. military plans and personnel. The country allegedly infiltrated U.S. airlines, military materials manufacturers and technology companies to gain intelligence on the movement, technology and weapons of U.S. troops.
Although Washington officials allegedly met with members of the Chinese embassy to discuss the hack, the details were not revealed. Some also say that this was not the first hack carried out by Chinese agents that targeted the U.S. Between June 2012 and June 2013, there were 50 cyber intrusions reported by Transcom, all of which attributed to the Chinese government.
8. Stuxnet
The U.S. isn’t innocent of organizing hacks against other countries. One of its best hacks to date targeted Stuxnet in 2010, an Iranian uranium enrichment plant. U.S. hackers installed Windows-based malware onto the company’s Siemens industrial control panel. The worm eventually made its way to the control panel for the centrifuges, making them spin out of control. The hack was confirmed to have been made by the United States and Israel. No one reported having been hurt by the centrifuge malfunction, which may be an indication that this hack was meant to send a message to Iran.
7. Greatest SIM heist in history
Perhaps the biggest SIM hack of all was a joint effort between the U.S. and Britain that took place in the late 2000s, but went public this year. The hack targeted Gemalto, a Netherlands-based company that manufactures SIM cards and credit card chips for more than 450 network providers worldwide. The company manufactures billions of cards each year.
U.S. and British spies captured SIM card encryption codes are were able to monitor the voice and data usage of millions of SIM card users worldwide. The hack is unconfirmed, but was part of former NSA agent Edward Snowden’s 2008 confidential information leak. The U.S. and Britain have yet to comment.
6. Greatest Credit Card hack ever
Governments aren’t the only entities to lead information hacks. Sometimes individual hackers are behind mastermind schemes, such as Alberto Gonzalez. Gonzalez was behind the largest credit card theft operation of all time. He stole 170 million credit card and ATM numbers, including information from large retailers like TJ Maxx. He then sold the information to identity thieves through a black market site he managed, called Shadowcrew.
Through the operation, Gonzalez walked away with an estimated $200 million between 2005 and 2007, until he was caught. Gonzalez served 20 years in prison for theft, but remains the biggest name in credit card hacking.
5. Teenager hacks DoD and steals NASA operations
One of the most famous hacks was executed by a really bored teenager named Jonathan James. James was a high school student from Florida who learned hacking at an early age. He hacked into a few small scale companies early on, but in 1999 he entered the hacking hall of fame for infiltrating the U.S. Department of Defense computer system.
James compromised DoD information and stole NASA software, including the critical control code for the International Space Station. The youngster’s damages are estimated at $1.7 million and because he was still a juvenile, he was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 6 months under house arrest in 2000. He committed suicide some years later.
4. Sony Hack
Sony has been the victim of multiple hacks, for various reasons. It was the target of the largest entertainment hacks when its Playstation Network was hacked in 2011. A hacker stole the personal information of 77 million Playstation user accounts, forcing Sony to take down its online network for nearly a month. The infiltration cost the entertainment giant $171 million.
Sony was targeted again last year before the release of its controversial film: The Interview. The film involved the plan to assassinate the current ruler of North Vietnam, Kim Jong-un. Outraged hackers thus gained access to Sony’s network and released the film online early, potentially costing Sony million of dollars.
3. Experian
The case of the Experian hack was committed by an insider. Hieu Minh Ngo posed as a private investigator to get access to Court Ventures – a Singapore-based Experian subsidiary. Ngo then sold that information to a fraudulent company, who resold it to identity thieves that accessed the data more than 3.1 million times.
Experian is a credit monitoring company that has access to tons of personal information, including social security numbers, banking information and personally identifiable information. Experian refused to disclose how many of its customers’ personal information became vulnerable because of the leak, but we’re guessing it’s in the millions.
2. Vigilante Hacker
Not all hackers are bad. In fact, some are vigilantes who do it for the fun. The most famous of such hackers is Kevin Mitnick – black hat hacker turn white hat entrepreneur who lives the ‘boys just want to have fun’ motto.
Mitnick has a number of famous hacks under his belt, including hacking IBM, Nokia and Motorola for fun. He also hacked the Los Angeles bus system to get free lifetime rides and before the internet was big, he learned how to hack the phone systems. Mitnick became famous before people understood hacking culture, so he was sentenced and served five years in prison for his whimsical ways. Today, Mitnick is a security consultant who may not wear a black hat, but allegedly sells security services to all types of companies.
1. Bitcoin
The last hack on our list is one of the most jarring. Bitcoin, a rather new, electronic currency, was long thought to be safe from hacks. Now that $400 million in bitcoins has gone missing, we know that its not as safe as bitcoin promoters claimed.
Bitcoin bank Mt Gox was hacked, leaving the company with big holes in its bankroll and even bigger holes to come, as the value of the bitcoin fell from $1,200 to $500 as a result of the hack. Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpeles says he does not know where the money went, but it seems 1 out of every 20 bitcoins has been stolen from the bank, for years now. Karpeles is facing death threats and has replaced some of the funds from his own pocket to right the wrong. The culprit is still unknown, making this one of the biggest hacks of our day, price wise.
C
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