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Top 10 craziest computer hacks

Part 1

Getting hacked can be a very scary experience. Though some computer hacks are totally harmless, others can be devastating and can cause irreparable damage. With that in mind, here, we present our list of the top 10 craziest computer hacks of all time. Check out part one below, and stay tuned for part two, coming soon!

Number Ten: Target. In 2013, every single Target store in the United States was hacked (for the record, there are 1,797). More than 40 million people’s credit card information was stolen, and another 70 million people on top of that had other personal information (address, phone numbers, etc.) stolen. The hackers were able to get away with it by installing malware that stored the information of every single credit card that was swiped inside a Target store.

Number Nine: Sony’s Playstation Network. Sony’s Playstation network was very badly hacked in 2011. Approximately 77 million accounts were hacked, and lots of personal information was stolen. Sony was subsequently criticized for the lack of security it provided in its Playstation system, and the total cost of recovering from the hack was estimated to be $171 million. The Playstation network was offline for a whopping 23 days as a result of this hack.

Number Eight: The Office of Personnel Management. The government has what’s called the Office of Personnel Management, and it was hacked in 2015. Not very much is known about this hack, but it is especially scary because it’s part of the federal government, and so the anti-hacking software should be stronger than anywhere else in the United States.

Number Seven: Ashley Madison. The Ashley Madison hack was one of the most publicized hacks of 2015. The hackers were able to acquire information about nearly every use on Ashley Madison, and they broadcast more than 25 gigabytes of data to the public as a result. Some users sued Ashely Madison for up to $151 million due to home life damage, ironically (Ashley Madison is a website for people in relationships to pursue extramarital affairs).

Number Six: Albert Gonzalez. Albert Gonzalez is the mastermind behind a two-year hack from 2005 to 2007 in which he stole more than 170 million people’s credit card information. Gonzales was able to steal information from within internal networks, and it is rumored that he became so rich he complained about having to count $340,000 by hand. Gonzales was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2010. Stay tuned for part two of our list of the top 10 computer hacks of all time, coming soon!

Text 2 Top 10 craziest computer hacks Part 2

We already brought you part one of our list of the top 10 craziest computer hacks of all time, and now we’re back with part two! Check out five more ridiculous stories of computer hacks that are so wild you might not even believe they’re true. You might be surprised by what you see!

Number Five: Microsoft’s Melissa Virus. In 1999, Microsoft discovered it had been hacked by something it called the “Melissa” virus. The virus affected anyone who had Outlook 1998 or 2000, and it was delivered in the form of an email. The email contained a Word document that, when opened, activated the virus and sent the same email to the first 50 people in the recipient’s address book.

Number Four: Stuxnet. In 2010, Stuxnet was discovered. Stuxnet was a computer worm originally designed to target Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities. The worm was able to hack into nuclear power plants and change the rotations of various centrifuges within the plant. Other countries around the world were affected as well.

Number Three: T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. In 2007, T.J. Maxx and Marshalls were affected by a hack which compromised an unknown amount of information. At least 45 million people‘s credit card information was stolen, and it took the companies three years before they even detected what was going on. To this day, the extent of the information breach is still “unknown”.

Number Two: Sony Pictures. Sony Pictures was hacked in 2014 surrounding the release of the controversial parody film The Interview. Though the identities of the hackers were unknown, their intentions appeared to be to make Sony Pictures employees’ lives very bad. Cyber terrorists who may have been linked to the hacking incident demanded that Sony not release The Interview or else there would be shootings in theaters. Sony initially complied but eventually defied the cyber terrorists.

Number One: Conficker. Conficker remains the largest computer worm in history and, to date, has not been killed. Tens of millions of Windows PCs in more than 200 countries have been hacked by this worm, which originally targeted people who use social networking sites. Multiple email clients are vulnerable, and once the worm is in, it has access to all sorts of user information. 

We hope you enjoyed our list of the top 10 craziest computer hacks of all time!