The Allianz Risk Barometer 2019 [4] confirmed the seriousness of cyber attacks in 2018, classifying this risk as the first concern of companies worldwide.
The growing use, by individuals, of connected devices, coupled with a low virus protection, would be an additional reason for the booming number of computer hacking victims.
Top 10 cyber attacks in 2018
| Rank | Cyber attack | Companies attacked | Date | Number of Hacked data | Type of hacked data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Aadhaar * | Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), an entity reporting to the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology | May | 1 100 000 000 | Customer's personal data |
| 2. | Marriott | Starwood, a subsidiary of the world hotel group Marriott | September 2018 (could date back to 2014) | 500 000 000 | Customer's personal and banking data |
| 3. | Exactis | Exactis, Amercian marketing company | June | 340 000 000 | Customer's personal data |
| 4. | MyFitnessPal | Under Armour, American company specializing in the manufacture of shoes and sportswear | February | 150 000 000 | Customer's personal data |
| 5. | MyHeritage | MyHeritage, International online genealogy platform | June | 92 000 000 | Customer's personal data |
| 6. | Panera Bread | Panera Bread, American chain of bakeries and cafés | August 2017 – April 2018 | 37 000 000 | Customer's personal data and the last 4 digits of banking cards |
| 7. | Facebook, American company owning the social network with the same name | September | 30 000 000 | Customer's personal data | |
| 8. | TicketFly | TicketFly, Ticket distribution site in Canada and the United States | May | 26 151 608 | Customer's personal data |
| 9. | Sacramento Bee | The Sacramento Bee, a daily newspaper | January | 19 500 000 | Voters' data in California |
| 10. | PumpUp | PumpUp, A company specializing in sports and fitness, based in Ontario, Canada | May | 6 000 000 | Customer's personal and banking data |
* Aadhaar is a card with a Unique Identity Number assigned to every Indian citizen. It is delivered by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) based in New Delhi, India.
Cyber attacks in 2018: e-mails, the weak point of companies and individuals
A communication means which has became most conventional, e-mailing has nearly replaced the paper -based mail, especially with the appearance of the digital signature. However, more than two-thirds of the e-mails exchanged during the first half of 2018 would represent a potential risk of cyber attack [5], according to a study conducted by FireEye, the world's specialist of network security.
The techniques used by the Pirates are ever-growing. In fact, there is no need to install malicious software on the target support to access its data. This is known as "fileless attack" According to McAfee Labs, this type of threat is booming increasing by 432% in 2018 compared to 2017. It is also difficult to recognize by conventional IT security software.