8 of the Biggest Data Breaches Ever and How They Happened (Infographic) A look back at some of the worst cases of personal information being stolen.
By Catherine Clifford •
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We live an overwhelming percentage of our lives on the Internet. And that means a lot of our personal information is stored there.
Unfortunately, it also means a lot of our personal information can be stolen. This week alone, Apple confirmed that the accounts of several A-list celebrities were breached while Home Depot announced that a cyber attack on its systems may have exposed customer information.
Related: Apple Confirms Some Celeb Accounts Were Breached in Nude Photo Scandal
The infographic below, compiled by webmaster tool WhoIsHostingThis.com, looks back at some of the worst data breaches in history, starting with the TJ Maxx hack in 2005 and 2006 where some 94 million credit cards were compromised. In that case, damaging software stripped information off of the magnetic stripe on credit cards and criminals in Eastern Europe forged credit cards with the information retrieved.
Related: Why the Naked Celeb Photo iCloud Hack Should Make You Nervous
While retreating to Antarctica and living among penguins may be the only sure way to keep your personal information out of the wrong hands, there are certain things you can do right now to decrease the risk. For example, you can be sure to keep usernames private and you can create clever passwords (please don't choose "123456" like everybody else).
Take a spin through the infographic to learn about some of the other data breaches in history and an explanation of how they happened. Then, go update your passwords.
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Related: Home Depot Suffers Possible Data Breach, Tries to Ease Customer Fears
