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Hacks have increased through the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. — © AFP/File Noel Celis
August 2023’s news regarding the cyberattack on U.K.’s electoral registers brought data breaches back to the forefront of many minds. In the past 12 months alone, a staggering 2.39 million instances of cybercrime have sent shockwaves across the U.K., sparing no industry, from schools to financial institutions.
To keep informed the company Fasthosts has revealed the most significant data breaches of 2023 in each three of the most targeted sectors. This is drawn from the company’s State Of The Web report.
The report reveals that 11 percent of people do not use the Internet out of fear for their online safety.
Business
In the 2023 cybersecurity breaches survey released by the British government, it was estimated that across all UK businesses, approximately 2.39 million instances of cybercrime and around 49,000 instances of fraud (as a result of cybercrime) took place in the last 12 months.
On January 5th, the email addresses tied to over 235 million accounts – almost half of Twitter’s user base – were posted to an online hacking forum. Described as one of the most significant leaks ever seen, users have been warned that as a result of the hack, they could become victims of hacking, targeted phishing, and doxxing.
Yum! Brands
The company Yum! Brands – the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell – was at the receiving end of a cyberattack. In January 2023, the firm was forced to close over 300 UK restaurants in order to contain the incident, which involved a threat actor gaining unauthorised access to Yum! Brands’ network.
PayPal
In January, PayPal was made to send out data breach notifications to just under 35,000 users who had their personal data exposed. The attack involved credential stuffing – the act of using the login credentials collected from a data breach from a separate service provider to attempt to login to a different service – to access the accounts.
JD Sports
During quarter 1, sportswear retailer JD Sports became another cyber victim. The company revealed that information such as name, billing and delivery address, phone numbers, order details, and the last 4 digits of card details were leaked for approximately 10 million customers. The attack also targeted the purchases from their partner companies including Size?, Blacks, Scotts, and Millets.
Zellis
The Zellis data hack involved a chain system affecting multiple parties. Hackers originally found a weakness in MOVEit, a file sharing system that payroll provider Zellis uses alongside their clients. The information that was stolen related to employees of eight of their largest clients, including BBC, Boots, British Airways, and Aer Lingus.
Education
As cyberattacks on the educational sector rise, the latest cyber security breaches survey 2023 revealed that all types of education institutions are more likely to have identified cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months than the average U.K. business.
Schools
In January, it surfaced that 14 UK schools were hit by a cyberattack supposedly revealing 500GB worth of highly confidential data, including SEN information, child passport scans, staff pay scales, and contract details. The hack was reportedly orchestrated by Russian hacker group, Vice Society, who have been targeting public schools across the world, and most recently the UK in late 2022. They’re known to acquire sensitive information to use for double extortion purposes (a ransomware tactic used to ask for money in exchange for the decryption or deletion of data).
University of Manchester
This time targeting the higher-education sector, one of the most recent victims is the University of Manchester, who revealed that they were victims of a cyberattack at the beginning of June. They are still currently unsure as to what data has been accessed but believe that data is likely to have been copied, as the orchestrator of the attack accessed their systems and threatened the institution with a ‘last warning’ before releasing the data from their 40,000 students and 12,000 staff.
Capita
Around 90 separate organisations reported breaches of personal information held by Capita after the payroll outsourcing group suffered a cyberattack. This caused major IT outages for clients, some of which ran crucial services for the NHS, local councils and the military. Capita employs over 50,000 people in the UK and holds £6.5 billion worth of public sector contracts with the British government. The breaches listed show that as we are becoming increasingly reliant on digital technologies, learning how to manage the potential threats and vulnerabilities is an uphill battle.
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