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Visualizing The 50 Biggest Data Breaches From 2004–2021

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This graphic visualizes the 50 largest data breaches, by entity and sector, since 2004.

Visualizing The 50 Biggest Data Breaches From 2004–2021

As our world has become increasingly reliant on technology and data stored online, data breaches have become an omnipresent threat to users, businesses, and government agencies. In 2021, a new record was set with more than 5.9 billion user records stolen.

This graphic by Chimdi Nwosu visualizes the 50 largest data breaches since 2004, along with the sectors most impacted. Data was aggregated from company statements and news reports.

Understanding the Basics of Data Breaches

A data breach is an incident in which sensitive or confidential information is copied, transmitted or stolen by an unauthorized entity. This can occur as a result of malware attacks, payment card fraud, insider leaks, or unintended disclosure.

The targeted data is often customer PII (personally identifiable information), employee PII, intellectual property, corporate data or government agency data.

Date breaches can be perpetrated by lone hackers, organized cybercrime groups, or even national governments. Stolen information can then be used in other criminal enterprises such as identity theft, credit card fraud, or held for ransom payment.

Notable Data Breaches Since 2004

The largest data breach recorded occurred in 2013 when all three billion Yahoo accounts had their information compromised. In that cyberattack, the hackers were able to gather the personal information and passwords of users. While the full extent of the Yahoo data breach is still not fully realized, subsequent cybercrimes across the globe have been linked to the stolen information.

Here are the 50 largest data breaches by amount of user records stolen from 2004–2021.

RankEntitySectorRecords CompromisedYear
1YahooWeb3.0B2013
2River City MediaWeb1.4B2017
3AadhaarGovernment1.1B2018
4First American CorporationFinance885M2019
5SpambotWeb711M2017
6LinkedinWeb700M2021
7FacebookTech533M2021
8YahooWeb500M2014
9Marriott InternationalRetail500M2018
10SyniverseTelecoms500M2021
11FacebookWeb419M2019
12Friend Finder NetworkWeb412M2016
13OxyDataTech380M2019
14MySpaceWeb360M2016
15ExactisData340M2018
16TwitterTech330M2018
17AirtelTelecoms320M2019
18Indian citizensWeb275M2019
19WattpadWeb270M2020
20MicrosoftWeb250M2019
21Experian BrazilFinance220M2021
22Chinese resume leakWeb202M2019
23Court VenturesFinance200M2013
24ApolloTech200M2018
25Deep Root AnalyticsWeb198M2015
26ZyngaGaming173M2019
27VKWeb171M2016
28EquifaxFinance163M2017
29DubsmashWeb162M2019
30Massive American business hackFinance160M2013
31MyFitnessPalApp150M2018
32EbayWeb145M2014
33CanvaWeb139M2019
34HeartlandFinance130M2009
35NametestsApp120M2018
36TetradFinance120M2020
37LinkedInWeb117M2016
38Pakistani mobile operatorsTelecoms115M2020
39ElasticSearchTech108M2019
40Capital OneFinance106M2019
41Thailand visitorsGovernment106M2021
42FirebaseApp100M2018
43QuoraWeb100M2018
44Rambler.ruWeb98M2012
45TK / TJ MaxxRetail94M2007
46MyHeritageWeb92M2018
47AOLWeb92M2004
48DailymotionWeb85M2016
49AnthemHealth80M2015
50Sony Playstation NetworkGaming77M2011

The massive Yahoo hack accounted for roughly 30% of the 9.9 billion user records stolen from the Web sector—by far the most impacted sector. The next most-impacted sectors were Tech and Finance, with 2 billion and 1.6 billion records stolen, respectively.

Although these three sectors had the highest totals of user data lost, that doesn’t necessarily imply they have weaker security measures. Instead, it can probably be attributed to the sheer number of user records they compile.

Not all infamous data breaches are of a large scale. A smaller data breach in 2014 made headlines when Apple’s iCloud was hacked and the personal pictures of roughly 200 celebrities were disseminated across the internet. Although this highly targeted hack only affected a few hundred people, it highlighted how invasive and damaging data breaches can be to users.

The Cost of Data Breaches to Businesses

Every year data breaches cost businesses billions of dollars to prevent and contain, while also eroding consumer trust and potentially having an adverse effect on customer retention.

A 2021 IBM security report estimated that the average cost per data breach for companies in 2020 was $4.2 million, which represents a 10% increase from 2019. That increase is mainly attributed to the added security risk associated with having more people working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Measures to Improve Data Security

Completely preventing data breaches is essentially impossible, as cybercrime enterprises are often persistent, dynamic, and sophisticated. Nevertheless, businesses can seek out innovative methods to prevent exposure of data and mitigate potential damages.

For example, after the iCloud attack in 2014, Apple began avidly encouraging users to adopt two-factor authentication in an effort to strengthen data security.

Regardless of the measures businesses take, the unfortunate reality is that data breaches are a cost of doing business in the modern world and will continue to be a concern to both companies and users.

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This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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Charted: What are Retail Investors Interested in Buying in 2023?

What key themes and strategies are retail investors looking at for the rest of 2023? Preview: AI is a popular choice.

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A cropped bar chart showing the various options retail investors picked as part of their strategy for the second half of 2023.

Charted: Retail Investors’ Top Picks for 2023

U.S. retail investors, enticed by a brief pause in the interest rate cycle, came roaring back in the early summer. But what are their investment priorities for the second half of 2023?

We visualized the data from Public’s 2023 Retail Investor Report, which surveyed 1,005 retail investors on their platform, asking “which investment strategy or themes are you interested in as part of your overall investment strategy?”

Survey respondents ticked all the options that applied to them, thus their response percentages do not sum to 100%.

Where Are Retail Investors Putting Their Money?

By far the most popular strategy for retail investors is dividend investing with 50% of the respondents selecting it as something they’re interested in.

Dividends can help supplement incomes and come with tax benefits (especially for lower income investors or if the dividend is paid out into a tax-deferred account), and can be a popular choice during more inflationary times.

Investment StrategyPercent of Respondents
Dividend Investing50%
Artificial Intelligence36%
Total Stock Market Index36%
Renewable Energy33%
Big Tech31%
Treasuries (T-Bills)31%
Electric Vehicles 27%
Large Cap26%
Small Cap24%
Emerging Markets23%
Real Estate23%
Gold & Precious Metals23%
Mid Cap19%
Inflation Protection13%
Commodities12%

Meanwhile, the hype around AI hasn’t faded, with 36% of the respondents saying they’d be interested in investing in the theme—including juggernaut chipmaker Nvidia. This is tied for second place with Total Stock Market Index investing.

Treasury Bills (30%) represent the safety anchoring of the portfolio but the ongoing climate crisis is also on investors’ minds with Renewable Energy (33%) and EVs (27%) scoring fairly high on the interest list.

Commodities and Inflation-Protection stocks on the other hand have fallen out of favor.

Come on Barbie, Let’s Go Party…

Another interesting takeaway pulled from the survey is how conversations about prevailing companies—or the buzz around them—are influencing trades. The platform found that public investors in Mattel increased 6.6 times after the success of the ‘Barbie’ movie.

Bud Light also saw a 1.5x increase in retail investors, despite receiving negative attention from their fans after the company did a beer promotion campaign with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Given the origin story of a large chunk of American retail investors revolves around GameStop and AMC, these insights aren’t new, but they do reveal a persisting trend.

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