The year 2023 was an eventful one in the cybersecurity world, with numerous high-profile cyber-incidents affecting various organizations. Threat actors took advantage of continued macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, using all available tools and ingenuity to breach corporate defenses. This left consumers anxiously clicking through news headlines to see if their personal information had been impacted.
According to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), external actors were responsible for the majority (83%) of breaches, with financial gain accounting for almost all (95%) breaches. The incidents featured in this list were primarily due to ransomware or data theft extortionists. However, human error or malicious insiders were also at fault in some cases, resulting in a significant impact despite a relatively small number of victims.
In no particular order, here is a review of the 10 biggest cyberattacks of 2023. The list begins with the MOVEit attack, which was traced back to the Lace Tempest (Storm0950) Clop ransomware affiliate, impacting more than 2,600 organizations and over 83 million individuals. This was followed by the UK Electoral Commission’s revelation of a “complex” cyberattack, resulting in the theft of personal information on an estimated 40 million voters. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) experienced an insider breach when sensitive internal data was accidentally posted online, leading to the circulation of information among Irish republican dissidents.
The year also saw two major data breaches, with DarkBeam exposing 3.8 billion records due to a misconfiguration and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) revealing the sale of personal information on 815 million residents. The genetics and research company 23andMe fell victim to a cyberattack, resulting in the theft of as many as 20 million pieces of data. Additionally, a zero-day vulnerability in the HTTP/2 protocol enabled threat actors to launch rapid reset DDoS attacks, reaching a peak of 398 million requests per second.
T-Mobile, MGM International/Caesars, and the Pentagon also experienced significant breaches, with T-Mobile impacting 37 million customers and the latter two resulting in major financial tolls on the firms. Finally, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard leaked highly sensitive military documents, which were subsequently shared and reposted by Russia.
These incidents highlight the ongoing threat posed by cybercriminals and the need for organizations to continuously monitor their systems for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. As we move into 2024, it is imperative that businesses and individuals remain vigilant about their digital security to prevent further breaches and protect sensitive information.