Updated 24 December 2020 at 17:03 IST
Cyberattacks in 2020: From Twitter hack to US cyberattacks, major crimes that shook world
From Twitter cryptocurrency hack to US federal agencies being hacked, read the most significant cyberattacks in 2020 that breached security amid the pandemic.
- World News
- 5 min read
While the world was rocked with COVID-19 pandemic throughout the year, it also paved the way for criminal activities and cyberattacks that caused catastrophic disruption to businesses across the world. This year became remarkable in several ways including a drastic surge in hacks that broke down organisations as well as its Information Technology (IT) infrastructure especially when most firms shifted to working remotely and people across the globe were ‘working from home’. As per reports, it was the security gap between the home and office network that majorly contributed to data breaches in 2020. Here are some of the most significant, top hacks of 2020:
Twitter cryptocurrency hack
This year, in one of the greatest blows to the microblogging social media website Twitter, the official accounts of prominent celebrities like Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Kim Kardashian and various others were hacked to promote a bitcoin scam in July. During the hack, some of the cryptocurrency websites were also affected.
Twitter later came forward to acknowledge the situation and restricted the ability to tweet or reset the password for some users in order to stop the hack from elevating. The restrictions were later removed when Twitter announced that it has detected a coordinated social engineering attack by hackers who initially targetted employees of the company who had access to sensitive data like internal systems and tools.
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Software AG Ransomware Attack
The second-largest software vendor in Germany and the seventh-largest in Europe, Software AG was reportedly hit by a ransomware attack in the month of October, this year. As per ZDNet report, the German tech firm was attacked by the Clop ransomware and the cyber-criminal gang that demanded over $20 million. The attack was reportedly significant and the company and it disrupted its internal network. The attackers had even published the screenshot of the company’s data on a website the hackers operate on the ‘dark web’. This information included screenshots of employee passports, Identifications, emails, financial documents among other things.
Cyberattack on US federal agencies
In one of the latest blows to US President Donald Trump’s administration in its closing days, as many as 12 federal agencies are crippling with a massive cyberattack which is reportedly described as the biggest breach in several years. Triggering speculation of Russian hackers’ involvement, US officials have reportedly said that the hacks have been ongoing for several months allowing the ones who breached the websites to monitor as well as read US’ confidential emails. The US cyber-security firm that had identified the large-scale hacking of country’s several federal agencies has reportedly said that it “genuinely impacted” at least 50 organisations.
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Marriott International
Next on the list of one of the most significant breaches within two years, Marriott International sent shock waves across the globe after it revealed that the personal details of nearly 5.2 million hotel guests were fraudulently accessed in 2020. Informational including names, addresses and phone numbers among other data that can only be identified personally was taken by the hackers. The cybercriminals, who usually target hotel data to sell off the information of the guests, accessed the information by using the login credentials of two employees at a franchise property.
EasyJet cyberattack
British budget airline group EasyJet revealed that personal information of 9 million customers has been compromised in a “highly sophisticated cyber attack”. According to media reports, the airline company told the stock market that email addresses and travel details of customers were accessed by the attacker while credit card details of 2,208 customers were exposed. EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren issued a statement saying the company taken cybersecurity of its systems seriously.
Several attacks on New Zealand stock exchange
In August and as well as September, New Zealand stock exchange was rocked by several cyberattacks that forced the exchange to even cease amid the challenging times of pandemic. New Zealand’s justice minister had informed about the nation confronting cyberattacks of an unprecedented scale and target everything from the stock market to weather service.
The New Zealand minister said in an interview with The Associated Press that the tracking down the cybercriminals behind the attacks was extremely difficult, as the distributed denial of service attacks are being routed through thousands of computers.
Microsoft detects cyberattacks
Microsoft Corp said on October 28 that it detected and worked to stop a series of cyberattacks from Phosphorus, which the company described as an “Iranian actor”. The tech firm said that Phosphorous was masquerading as conference organisers to target more than 100 high-profile individuals. The company said in a blog, “Phosphorus, an Iranian actor, has targeted with this scheme potential attendees of the upcoming Munich Security Conference and the Think 20 (T20) Summit in Saudi Arabia.”
Dr Reddy's Laboratories attack in India
Dr Reddy's Laboratories in late October said that it has isolated' all its data services following a cyber attack. The pharma giant reported a data breach a few days after it received regulatory approvals from DCGI (Drug Controller General of India) to conduct phase 2 & 3 clinical human trials for Russia's COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V. Dr Reddy's CIO Mukesh Rathi told ANI that they have isolated all data services for 24 hours. Mukesh Rathi told ANI, "We are anticipating all services to be up within 24 hours and we do not foresee any major impact on our operations due to this incident."
Published By : Aanchal Nigam
Published On: 24 December 2020 at 17:05 IST