Cyber attacks are everywhere in the tech world, and they are becoming more sophisticated by the day. Why is this so? Although shady characters in hoods sabotaging networks to steal information for profit are real, so are governments that use cyber-warfare to undermine opposing viewpoints or other nation-states. Attackers are paid handsomely for an electronic health record (EHR), whereas nations may influence voters, discursive, or ideology.
As technology connects the world more day by day, cyber attacks have become more common. Every year, cybercriminals target critical data and finances, resulting in millions of attacks. Companies without IT Support And Security are typically targeted in these attacks, but what about those on a broader scale? Take a glance at three of history’s most significant cyber attacks.
Morris Worm (1988):
The first cyberattack started with good intentions but ended up having unanticipated consequences. Robert Tappan Morris, a graduate student at Cornell University, created a program to estimate the size of the internet in 1988. The program would slither the internet, install itself on other computer systems, and then count the number of copies is made. When the results are tabulated, they will show the number of computers hooked up to the internet.
Sadly, Morris encountered difficulties in ensuring accuracy. Morris issued an instruction that pressured the worm to implement itself on every seventh computer, even if the laptop asserted it already had the program. With each configuration, the infected computers became more and more crippled until they finally collapsed. It was the first Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, so it happened entirely by chance.
The worm infected approximately 6,000 computers in total. The cost of repairing the worm’s effects is estimated to be between $100,000 and $1 million, or between $201,000 and $2.9 million adjusted for inflation. Morris was charged with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and his punishment included fines, probation, and community service for three years.
Google China (2009):
When Google’s Chinese head office discovered a data breach in mid-December, it opened Pandora’s box that implicated the Chinese government. Hackers gained access to many Google corporate servers, stealing IP rights.
Google stated in a blog that it has “evidence to suggest that the attackers’ primary goal was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights advocates.” As the corporation dug deeper, they discovered that multiple Gmail accounts from the United States, China, and Europe had been frequently accessed without authorization. Those email accounts belonged to human rights activists in China. Naturally, all attention was drawn to the Chinese government, which has long been criticized for blatantly ignoring human rights.
Google entered the Chinese cyber market in the year 2006 with www.google.cn and succumbed to China’s strict Internet censorship rule. The cyberattacks in December 2009 made the company reconsider its operations in the country. Google moved its data centers for google.cn to Hong Kong in March 2010 to avoid China’s Web filtering policy.
Yahoo! (2013, 2016):
Yahoo!, the popular email provider, has also been targeted by hackers on several occasions. In 2013, the corporation had more than 3 billion active users because every one of them was jeopardized, resulting in the most significant security breach in history. However, this is the worst-case scenario, as cybercriminals could collect email addresses, names, dates of birth, and security discussions and sell them to malicious hackers.
However, the most damaging aspect was not the attack itself but the corporation’s reaction to it. Yahoo! did not disclose the violation until three years later, in 2016, and initially stated that only one billion account holders were impacted. The breach was not uncovered until 2014 when Yahoo! was investigating another attack. On numerous occasions, the media chastised the corporation for its decisions.
In Conclusion:
Cyberattacks will continue to occur as technology becomes more commonly accessible. While all these attacks cannot be prevented, it is critical that individuals and companies alike take precautions to protect themselves from hackers and threats. ITsGuru can provide you with high-quality IT Services Company Houston. Contact our experts today and find out how you can protect your company from cybercriminals.