Computer Data Breaches10 RECENT COMPUTER DATA Breaches AND SOLUTIONS

This reports expounds on some of the computer systems data breaches that have occurred in the last five years including the recent Facebook data scandal. Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Recent Computer Data breaches 4 The 2017 WannaCry Ransomware 4 Neiman Marcus Cyber Attack 5 Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center Data Breach 5 Target Data Breach 5 Facebook Data Breach Scandal 6 Measures to Combat Computer Data Breaches 6 Conclusion and Recommendation 8 References 8 Introduction According to research, cyber-crime damages are estimated to cost the globe about $ 6 trillion every year

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RECENT COMPUTER DATA BREACHES AND SOLUTIONS
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Abstract
Technology is increasingly presenting disruptive and innovative technologies to help improve
everyday life. However, such developments have brought challenges including cyber-attacks.
This reports expounds on some of the computer systems data breaches that have occurred in the
last five years including the recent Facebook data scandal. Additionally, the report outlines some
measures that can be taken to guard against them. Finally a conclusion and a recommendation to
emphasize the importance of cyber security.

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Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Recent Computer Data breaches......................................................................................................4
The 2017 WannaCry Ransomware..............................................................................................4
Neiman Marcus Cyber Attack.....................................................................................................5
Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center Data Breach.............................................................................5
Target Data Breach......................................................................................................................5
Facebook Data Breach Scandal...................................................................................................6
Measures to Combat Computer Data Breaches...............................................................................6
Conclusion and Recommendation...................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
According to research, cyber-crime damages are estimated to cost the globe about $ 6 trillion
every year by 2021 (Morgan, 2018). The projection is an increase from $3 trillion incurred in
2015. This clearly shows that cyber security costs all over the world will continue to significantly
increase as a result of an increased cyber-crime. A single data breach case is estimated to cost a
company over 3.8 million. In the US alone, over 40 percent organizations have heard a breach in
the last year (Morgan, 2018) . The U.S government in 2016 spent a staggering $28 billion on
cyber-security. More was spent in 2017, and more is expected to be disbursed this year (Mason,
2018). A new study by Symantec shows that ransomware attacks increased by over 35 percent in
2017 across the world and is predicted to only keep growing. The truth is that technology is
developing at an alarming rate. With technology developing, so are hackers and their hacking
techniques. Data breaches tracked by end of June 2017 increased by more 700 records and the
number will keep rising. This report discusses details of some of the data breaches and scandals
that have occurred in the last 5 years. Several measures and solutions for data breaches have
been discussed and finally a conclusion.
Recent Computer Data breaches
The 2017 WannaCry Ransomware
Every other day, organizations face the risk of experiencing a cyber-attack. In May 2017, a
computer worm dubbed ‘WannaCry’ hit the Internet and affected computer systems in over 150
countries worldwide (BBCNews, 2017). WannaCry worm rapidly spread through the Internet,
affected outdated Windows 7 Operating Systems and encrypted victim’s computer systems. The
perpetrators demanded a ransom in form of Bitcoin in order to decrypt the encoded data and
information. The first attack occurred the first week of May 2017 and began by infecting

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government and business systems in Ukraine before spreading out to over 200,000 computers
across the globe. Some countries were affected more than the rest including Russia and European
Union states. To stop the attack and slow down its effect, a kill switch was developed by security
researcher. The attack was linked to a hacker group from Korea (Riley & Burke, 2017).
According to (Rizkallah, 2017), hackers behind the attack are said to have manipulated a tool
belonging to NSA to design and develop the malware.
Neiman Marcus Cyber Attack
In February 2014, a retailer specializing in credit card payments, Neiman Marcus
experienced a cyber-attack (Elgin, et al., 2014). Hackers were able to intrude and access
customer credit card records belonging to the company. For 8 months, the hackers remained
undetected, set off 60,000 alerts that sent notifications and gained access to cash registers.
At first, it was said that approximately 1 million customer records were accessed but a
recent update showed that about 9000 customer cards were accessed.
Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center Data Breach
2017 was just a year full of cyber-attacks reports. Based in New York City, Bronx Lebanon
Hospital Center was penetrated and thousands of medical records illegally accessed. The data
breach exposed over 7000 patients’ records between 2014 and 2017 (Cohen, 2017). The leaked
data included patient names, physical addresses, religion, social security numbers, diagnosis
reports, HIV statuses, domestic violence reports, addiction history and sexual assault reports
(Cohen, 2017). The attack happened after a server used to store and transfer files wasn’t
properly secured and thus left in a vulnerable state. A report indicated that the server had been
left in a misconfigured state and hence was highly exposed (Sehgal, 2017) . It was thus very

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easy for a hacker to gain access and expose records. There was no record as to whether the
exposed records were used inapproprietary.
Target Data Breach
Target a big retailer store also suffered a major data breach attack involving millions of customer
debit and credit cards in November 2013 (Kassner, 2015). Staff at the retailer discovered the data
breach and quickly reported it to the U.S. Justice Department by December. Soon after, the issue
was posted by a cyber-security blogger and was said to have started on a Black Friday in a
busiest shopping period. According to Target, debit and credit cards of about 110 million
shoppers, who visited the retail shop at the time of the attack were compromised. The attackers
accessed and stole data with a capacity of 11 gigabytes.
Facebook Data Breach Scandal
Recently, Facebook was involved in a data breach scandal. The social media site allowed a third
party app from Analytica, an analyst firm to access user information belonging to millions of
Facebook users (Murdock, 2018). In 2014, Analytica developed a personality test for users
whose motive was to harvest chunks of user data without their knowledge. By allowing the
application to work, Facebook thus gave consent to the firm to access and collect information
including location, likes and dislikes from users for use in their political agendas. When a user
installs a Facebook related app, they basically give permission to the app to access your profile
including names, pictures, account ID, friends, gender, location and more. Facebook and other
social media platforms do not have clear procedures as to how they implement data privacy.
They therefore continue to collect copious amounts of data including user attitudes and behaviors

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(Murdock, 2018). With numerous applications running on the platforms, user data can be
accessed and exploited without their knowledge.
Measures to Combat Computer Data Breaches
Technological innovations are on the rise. The Internet growth is staggering and technologies
including cloud computing, social media, telemedicine, online shopping, remote etc. have made
it possible for many people across the world to access and embrace digital revolution.
Nevertheless, such growth and developments has led to the increase in cyber-attacks with
intruders trying to gain access to network systems to commit fraud or steal data and information.
As a result, cyber-attacks and data breaches are in the rise including the ones mentioned above.
It is not all bad news however since there are some measures and precautions that both individual
users and businesses can take to protect themselves from cyber-attacks. Some of the measures
that can be taken include the following:
i) Both individual and business accounts should be secured using strong passwords codes
that include more than 8 characters made up of numbers, letters and special characters.
Passwords also need to be updated very frequently
ii) Make use of strong passwords that are difficult to guess even with password guessing
software’s
iii) Business workers should be trained on the importance of cyber security for the business
and taught how to detect some of the attacks including social engineering tactics by
hackers

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iv) When using a third party app or provider, it is crucial to read through permission to
access for social accounts as they can be channel that attackers can use to gain access
vendor becomes even more risky when it comes to offering security
v) Make use of licensed and updated software’s and mobile apps as outdated applications
can be an easy route for hackers to gain access to systems. By using updated applications,
users and businesses can guard against impending attacks from intruders.
vi) Implement biometric systems access such as finger prints, eye blinks
vii) Perform data and information encryption
viii) Ensure rules and procedures about information and data access by developing
authorization and access rules.
ix) Install security infrastructure for data systems
x) Adopt Two Factor Authentication for stronger security layers which go for more than
just passwords but requires users to implement two security features such a code sent to a
phone on top of a password
xi) Make use of intrusion detection systems(IDS) to discover illegal attempt to systems
access
xii) Implement computer networks monitoring software’s to guard against attempted attacks
xiii) Securing all network systems to ensure data intrusions and data attacks
Conclusion and Recommendation
There’s no doubt that cyber-attacks are on the rise in the modern world today. Cyber security is
thus going to expand and become critical for modern enterprises and the world at large. They
have been used to commit fraud involving millions, used to influence major national election
results and commit identity theft. The fight against cyber-attacks should therefore not be

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underestimated. Some companies hit by cyber-attacks have never been able to catch up and some
are destroyed utterly to non-existence. As such, it is very imperative to guard against attacks by
implementing some of the measures indicated above both for personal and business related
accounts and operations.
References
BBCNews, 2017. Cyber-attack: Europol says it was unprecedented in scale. [Online]
Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39907965
Cohen, J. K., 2017. 7,000+ people affected in New York hospital data breach: 4 things to know.
[Online]
Available at: http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/7-000-
people-affected-in-new-york-hospital-data-breach-4-things-to-know.html
Elgin, B., Dune, L. & Michael, R., 2014. Neiman Marcus Hackers Set Off 60,000 Alerts While
Bagging Credit Card Data. [Online]
Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-21/neiman-marcus-hackers-set-
off-60-000-alerts-while-bagging-credit-card-data
[Accessed 1 May 2018].
Kassner, M., 2015. Anatomy of the Target data breach: Missed opportunities and lessons
learned. [Online]
Available at: https://www.zdnet.com/article/anatomy-of-the-target-data-breach-missed-
opportunities-and-lessons-learned/
[Accessed 1 May 2018].
Mason, J., 2018. Cyber Security Statistics. [Online]
Available at: https://thebestvpn.com/cyber-security-statistics-2018/
[Accessed 1 May 2018].
Morgan, S., 2018. Top 5 cybersecurity facts, figures and statistics for 2018. [Online]
Available at: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3153707/security/top-5-cybersecurity-facts-
figures-and-statistics.html
[Accessed 1 May 2018].
Murdock, J., 2018. FACEBOOK DATA BREACH: HOW TO CHECK WHICH THIRD-PARTY
APPS YOU HAVE CONNECTED. [Online]
Available at: http://www.newsweek.com/facebook-data-breach-how-check-which-third-party-
apps-you-have-connected-850564
[Accessed 1 May 2018].

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Riley, C. & Burke, S., 2017. Intelligence agencies link WannaCry cyberattack to North Korea.
[Online]
Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/16/technology/wannacry-north-korea-intelligence-
link/index.html?iid=EL
[Accessed 1 May 2018].
Rizkallah, J., 2017. The Cybersecurity Regulatory Crackdown. [Online]
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/08/25/the-cybersecurity-
regulatory-crackdown/#4c8f13674573
Sehgal, S., 2017. Over 7,000 Patients’ Data Compromised in Bronx Lebanon Hospital Data
Breach. [Online]
Available at: https://securingtomorrow.mcafee.com/business/7000-patients-data-compromised-
bronx-lebanon-hospital-data-breach/