Sat in my Christmas jumper eating a mince pie and listening to my Christmas playlist, my Christmas spirit is palpable. However, even the sheer size of my excitement for Christmas isn’t enough to stop me keeping an eye on the developments on Sony cyber attack or, in fact, all cyber crime news.

Several articles have been posted on the IT Governance blogs in the past few weeks detailing cyber criminals and their increased activity during the Christmas period. Our expectations were correct: December has been a terrible month for cyber security.

Rather than posting my usual ‘list of breaches and cyber attacks this month’ article, I’ve decided to look back on some of the more prominent hacks and data breaches of 2014.

Please note: The following list is only a snapshot of 2014’s events and shouldn’t be considered a definitive list. For even more hacks and breaches, please click the desired month and you’ll be directed to our monthly summary.

January

1 January, 2014 – 1.1 MILLION customers’ credit card data was swiped in Neiman Marcus breach

20 January, 2014 – Credit Card Details of 20 Million South Koreans Stolen

21 January, 2014 – Microsoft blog hacked by Syrian Electronic Army

24 January, 2014 – CNN website, Twitter and Facebook hijacked by Syrian Electronic Army

25 January, 2014 – Michaels Stores confirms payment card information compromised in breach

February

5 February, 2014 – Texas health system attacked, data on more than 400K compromised

14 February, 2014 – Forbes.com Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army Because of “Hate for Syria”

16 February, 2014 – Kickstarter hacked: Passwords, phone numbers, and phone numbers stolen

24 February, 2014 – YouTube ads spread banking malware

25 February, 2014 – Mt. Gox exchange goes dark as allegations of $350 million hack swirl

March

10 March, 2014 – Hackers steal 12 million customer records from South Korean phone giant

14 March, 2014 – Credit Card Breach at California DMV

17 March, 2014 – Morrisons employee arrested following data breach involving details of 100k staff

20 March, 2014 – EA Games website hacked to phish Apple IDs from users

28 March, 2014 – Malware in 34 Spec’s stores, payment data compromised for 550K

April

7 April, 2014 – Germany suffers biggest ever data breach in its history

8 April, 2014 – The Heartbleed bug: serious vulnerability found in OpenSSL cryptographic software library

15 April, 2014 – German space centre endures cyber attack

15 April, 2014 – Welsh Councils break DPA 2.5 times a week

22 April, 2014 – Iowa State server breach exposes SSNs of nearly 30,000

29 April, 2014 – Security breach at AOL. Users told to change passwords

May

8 May, 2014 – Orange Suffers Data Breach Again, 1.3 Million Affected

9 May, 2014 – WooThemes users notified of payment card breach, 300 reports of fraud

21 May, 2014 – eBay Suffers Cyber Attack, Users Asked to Change Passwords

27 May, 2014 – Avast Suffers Cyber Attack; 400,000 users affected

June

14 June, 2014 – P.F. Chang’s Confirms Credit Card Breach

17 June, 2014 – Hackers Takeaway Domino’s Pizza Customer Data; More Puns Inside

19 June, 2014 – Hacker puts Code Spaces out of business

19 June, 2014 – Sun and Sunday Times Websites Hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army

22 June, 2014 – British Gas Help Twitter account hacked, customers pointed towards phishing sites

23 June, 2014 – ‘Most sophisticated DDoS’ ever strikes Hong Kong democracy poll

25 June, 2014 – European Bank Hit by Cyber Attack; £400,000 stolen

July

1 July, 2014 – Energy Firms Hacked by Cyber Espionage Group ‘Dragonfly’

4 July, 2014 – $3.75 Billion Brazilian Boleto Malware Attack

8 July, 2014 – HotelHippo.com Closes after Data Leak

15 July, 2014 – CNET Hacked, One Million Users’ Data Stolen

16 July, 2014 – Information Commissioner’s Office Suffers Data Security Breach

23 July, 2014 – eBay has suffered a security breach for the second time this year

31 July, 2014 – Gizmodo Brazil hacked, fake Adobe Flash download opens backdoor

31 July, 2014 – Massive Paddy Power hack: nearly 650,000 customers’ records stolen

August

5 August, 2014 – Goodwill and FBI Investigate Possible Security Breach

15 August, 2014 – Supervalu supermarket chain begin investigating possible data breach

19 August, 2014 – US Cyber Crime Goes Nuclear: NRC Computers Hacked THREE Times

21 August, 2014 – Over 50 UPS franchises hit by data breach

27 August, 2014 – Norwegian oil industry under attack by hackers

27 August, 2014 – Records of 25,000 Homeland Security Employees Stolen in Cyber Attack

28 August, 2014 – FBI Probes Possible Hacking Incident at J.P. Morgan

September

4 September, 2014 – Home Depot suffers breach that may be larger than Target’s

5 September, 2014 – 800k Payment Cards Compromised in Goodwill Industries Breach

5 September, 2014 – ObamaCare Website Hacked

18 September, 2014 – Home Depot: 56M Cards Impacted, Malware Contained

23 September, 2014 – 880,000 Affected by Viator Payment Card Breach

25 September, 2015 – Payment card data stolen in Jimmy John’s data breach

29 September, 2014 – Hundreds of US Stores Affected as POS Provider is Hacked

30 September, 2014 – SuperValu compromised again – for the second time in three months

October

3 October, 2014 – JPMorgan suffers data breach affecting 76 million customers

10 October, 2014 – Dairy Queen data breach hits 395 stores

14 October, 2014 – ‘Big K’ raided by hackers: Kmart warns customers after malware discovered

21 October, 2014 – Staples stores investigated: suspected payment card breach

23 October, 2014 – POODLE attack digs up downgrade flaw in TLS

29 October, 2014 – White House unclassified network hacked

November

7 November, 2014 – Home Depot admits 53 million email addresses stolen in data breach

13 November, 2014 – Data breach affects 2.7 million HSBC Turkey cardholders

17 November, 2014 – US State Department network shut amid reports of cyber breach

18 November, 2014 – Staples confirms POS malware attack

25 November, 2014 – Sony Pictures Entertainment hacked

27 November, 2014 – Syrian Electronic Army attack on Gigya affects Telegraph, Independent, Evening Standard…

December

4 December, 2014 – Possible credit card breach at Bebe Stores

11 December, 2014 – Union Station parking lot suffers suspected data breach

11 December, 2014 – Electronic payment company CHARGE Anywhere suffers five-year breach

15 December, 2014 – Personal information leaked in University of California, Berkeley, data breach

19 December, 2014 – KeyPoint cyber attack compromises 48,000 federal employees

22 December, 2014 – Staples confirm details of six-month breach, 1.16 million cards affected

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