As 2015 begins, it's time to take a look back at some of the many cyber-attacks that seemed to plague US companies in the past year.
In 2014, we witnessed the rapid expansion of Big Data in business and IT. The digital universe is growing at an astounding 40% a year into the next decade encompassing not only the people and businesses online, but also all of the smart devices connected to the Internet, making way for a new wave of opportunities for businesses across the world. According to IDC, by 2020, there will be nearly as many digital bits as there are stars in the universe with a total of 44 zettabytes or 44 trillion gigabytes.
As more of the world converts online, the more opportunities there are for enterprises to use data in new ways to learn about customers, business cycles, and organizational inefficiencies with the goal of reaching the "Third Platform," built upon cloud computing, mobility, social networking, and Big Data. In order to maximize this "Third Platform," companies must deal with the complexities of information security, automatic tagging, next-gen analytics, and storage management, just to name a few. This movement does not only include IT and tech companies, big data impacts companies that you had no idea were even integrated with tech. For example, Under Armour (UA) pulls consumer behavior data from its online retail sites; John Deere (DE), a tractor and agricultural company uses data to optimize its tractor plowing speeds; and Domino's Pizza (DPZ) uses data from its online ordering platform to improve customer satisfaction.
Unfortunately, as large corporations find greater opportunities in Big Data, cyber-hacking organizations do as well. 2014 marked a year of major data breaches that crippled multi-billion dollar corporations and placed millions of people at risk.
Some of the notable attacks of 2014:
· Target (TGT): credit card breach where over 110 million individuals' credit card information was stolen.
· Michaels Cos. (MIK): the payment cards of 2.6 million customers were impacted.
· Yahoo! (YHOO) Mail: 273 million users were reportedly hacked in January.
· AT&T (T): user information including SSNs was compromised.
· eBay (EBAY): hacked for millions of employee logins. The company issued a statement asking all users to change their passwords.
· UPS (UPS): the customer information from more than 60 of its stores was compromised.
· Boeing (BA): Su Bin, a Chinese national, attempted to steal manufacturing plans for defense programs.
· Home Depot (HD): cyber criminals used malware to steal credit card info for nearly 56 million shoppers.
· Google (GOOGL): reportedly, over 5 million Gmail passwords were stolen and 100,000 released on a Russian forum site.
· Apple iCloud (AAPL): hackers accessed iCloud and leaked celebrities' private photos online.
· J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM): hackers accessed the contact information for over 76 million households and 7 million small businesses.
This proved that no company, even the strongest tech and financial firms in the US, was immune to the new onslaught of cyber threats. Here lies a grave problem and a fantastic opportunity.
Within the past year, the US has seen the rise of a new, roaring cyber security industry whose main purpose is to provide stronger network security options to large and small businesses seeking to protect their prized networks and data. As cyber hackers grow stronger and more sophisticated, the demand for cyber security will only rise. We can expect continued outstanding performance in cyber security leaders Palo Alto Networks (PANW), CyberArk (CYBR), Fortinet (FTNT), Cisco (CSCO), and Check Point (CHKP) in 2015.
