In 2015, several significant data breaches occurred, affecting millions, including Anthem (80 million records), Ashley Madison (37 million), and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (21.5 million). Most breaches involved sensitive personal information and were attributed to various cybercriminals, including suspected state-sponsored hackers. Recommendations for improved security include better encryption, detection technologies, and heeding warnings about potential vulnerabilities.

1. InvisiBits
12/30/2015
Biggest Data Breaches of 2015

2. Anthem
80 million
Ashley Madison
37 million
OPM
21.5 million
Experian
15 million
Premera
11 million
LastPass
7 million

3. Anthem
Anthem
80 million

4. Anthem
 Revealed in February (2015)
 APT attack probably started in April 2014
 5th largest data breach of all time
 Breached data includes social security numbers, birthdays,
street addresses, phone numbers and income data
 Likely by Chinese hackers (Deep Panda)
 Attackers created a bogus domain name, "we11point.com,"
(based onWellPoint, the former name ofAnthem) that may
have been used in phishing-related attacks.

5. Ashley Madison
Ashley Madison
37 million

6. Ashley Madison
 A website that encourages people to cheat on their partners
 A hacking group known as ImpactTeam stole private
information
 Hacked in July (2015)
 Leaked 20 GB data inAugust (which had many social
consequences including suicides)
 Breached data includes e-mail addresses and account details
 Suspects to be an insider attack but does not know for sure

7. U.S. Office of Personal Management
OPM
21.5 million

8. U.S. Office of Personal Management
 Attack started inApril 2014
 Detected in May (2015) and notified in June (2015)
 Breached data contains security clearance data of past and
current federal workers - including fingerprints, Social
Security numbers, addresses, employment history, and
financial records
 Believed to be originated from China
 They have carried out two attacks

9. Experian
Experian
15 million

10. Experian
 The world’s largest consumer credit monitoring firm
 Breach disclosed in October (2015)
 Breached data includesT-Mobile customers who underwent
credit checks by Experian (customer names, addresses, Social
Security numbers, birthdays, and even sensitive identification
numbers)
 Consumer facing companies (e.g.T-mobile) should take more
stringent measures to protect their data at data aggregators
(e.g. Experian)
 The attack seems to have originated in CourtVenture which
Experian had acquired by a humanTrojan

11. Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield
Premera
11 million

12. Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield
 Occurred in May 2014, but discovered only in January
 Disclosed in March
 Breached data includes names, dates of birth, Social Security
numbers, addresses, bank-account information and claim
information, including clinical information
 The same group that hackedAnthem seems to have carried
out the attack
 Customers are phished to a fake domain prennera.com
 Fed had warned about security flaws before the attack, no
action was taken

13. LastPass
LastPass
7 million

14. LastPass
 A cloud based password management company
 Disclosed the attack in June (2015)
 Breached data includes users’ email addresses, encrypted
master passwords, and the reminder words and phrases that
the service asks users to create for those master passwords
 Due to strong encryption, breached users seem to safe, but
the company advised users to reset their master passwords as
a precautionary measure

15. What to do in 2016?
 Two of the breaches include state sponsored attacks – need better
security infrastructures to protect and monitor government assets
 Two of the breaches on healthcare data – hackers are after personal data
– similar to government data, healthcare data needs to be better
protected
 Encrypt your data – LastPass leaked master passwords were strongly
protected which averted a catastrophic consequence
 Have good detection technologies in place – most of the attacks took
months to discover
 Take warnings seriously – Premera was warned, but did not take any
actions before the attack happened
 Make sure the same mistake does not happen again – Experian got
hacked twice – not enough action after the first attack
 Live online the same way you live offline – internet cannot hide you
forever (Ashley Madison)