The biggest hacks, data breaches of 2020 | | Cybersecurity may be far from many of our minds this year, and in light of a pandemic and catastrophic economic disruption, remembering to maintain our own personal privacy and security online isn't necessarily a priority. However, cyberattackers certainly haven't given anyone a break this year. Data breaches, network infiltrations, bulk data theft and sale, identity theft, and ransomware outbreaks have all occurred over 2020 and the underground market shows no signs of stopping. | Many companies and organizations, too, have yet to practice reasonable security hygiene, and vulnerabilities pose a constant threat to corporate networks. As a result, we've seen a variety of cyberattacks this year, the worst of which we have documented below. | Remote work became a major security consideration of study participants due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The average time to identify and contain a data breach, or the "breach lifecycle," was 280 days in 2020. Speed of containment can significantly impact breach costs, which can linger for years after the incident. The share of breaches caused by malicious attacks has steadily increased. Compromised credentials was the most expensive initial cause of malicious breaches in the study, while the type of threat actor also had a major impact on cost. Security automation solutions — including AI, analytics and orchestration — and incident response (IR) preparedness, including formation of IR teams and testing IR plans, showed the greatest reduction in data breach costs. | | |
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