Datastream

The Most Significant Cyber Attacks from 2006-2020, by Country

Published

2 years ago

May 10, 2021

Carmen Ang

Significant Cyber Attacks

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The Briefing

From 2006 to 2020, the U.S. experienced 156 significant cyber attacks—more than the UK, India, and Germany combined
A “significant” cyber attack refers to a hack into a country’s government agency, a defense or high-tech company, or a crime with losses of more than $1M

Significant Cyber Attacks from 2006-2020, by Country

Committing a cyber crime can have serious consequences. In the U.S., a cyber criminal can receive up to 20 years in prison for hacking into a government institution if it compromises national security.

Yet, despite the consequences, cyber criminals continue to wreak havoc across the globe. But some countries seem to be targeted more than others.

Using data from Specops Software, this graphic looks at the countries that have experienced the most significant cyber attacks over the last two decades.

Rank	Country / Region	Number of Significant Cyber Attacks (2006-2020)
1	🇺🇸 United States	156
2	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	47
3	🇮🇳 India	23
4	🇩🇪 Germany	21
5	🇰🇷 South Korea	18
6	🇦🇺 Australia	16
7	🇺🇦 Ukraine	16
8	🇨🇳 China	15
9	🇮🇷 Iran	15
10	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	15
11	🇯🇵 Japan	13
12	🇨🇦 Canada	12
13	🇫🇷 France	11
14	🇮🇱 Israel	11
15	🇵🇰 Pakistan	9
16	🇷🇺 Russia	8
17	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	7
18	🇻🇳 Vietnam	6
19	🇹🇷 Turkey	6
20	🇰🇵 North Korea	5

The U.S. comes in first place, with 156 recorded cyber attacks. That’s an average of 11 significant attacks per year, which is more than Russia’s had in 14 years.

What are the Most Common Types?

While there are many different types of cyber attacks, Specops highlights the four most commonly used for significant cyber crimes:

Structured Query Language (SQL) Injection Attack
SQL is the code used to communicate with a database. In an SQL injection attack, the hacker writes vindictive SQL code and inserts it into a victim’s database, in order to access private information.
A man-in-the-middle (MitM)
This form of attack happens when a cyber criminal hacks into a communication channel between two people, and eavesdrops on their online exchanges.
Phishing Attack
When a cyber criminal poses as a legitimate institution and emails a victim to gain personal details like login credentials, home address, credit card information.
Denial of Service Attack (DoS)
This involves flooding a victim’s system with traffic, to the point where their network is inaccessible. The hacker doesn’t gain any valuable information from this style of attack.

»Like this? Here’s another article you might enjoy: The 15 Biggest Data Breaches in the Last 15 Years

Where does this data come from?

Source: Specops Software
Details: Report is based on each entry made by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in their record of significant cyber-attacks between May 2006 and June 2020.

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Central Banks

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Public trust in the Federal Reserve chair has hit its lowest point in 20 years. Get the details in this infographic.

Published

1 week ago

May 23, 2023

Marcus Lu

The Briefing

Gallup conducts an annual poll to gauge the U.S. public’s trust in the Federal Reserve
After rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, public trust has fallen to a 20-year low

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Each year, Gallup conducts a survey of American adults on various economic topics, including the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve.

More specifically, respondents are asked how much confidence they have in the current Fed chairman to do or recommend the right thing for the U.S. economy. We’ve visualized these results from 2001 to 2023 to see how confidence levels have changed over time.

Methodology and Results

The data used in this infographic is also listed in the table below. Percentages reflect the share of respondents that have either a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence.

Year	Fed chair	% Great deal or Fair amount
2023	Jerome Powell	36%
2022	Jerome Powell	43%
2021	Jerome Powell	55%
2020	Jerome Powell	58%
2019	Jerome Powell	50%
2018	Jerome Powell	45%
2017	Janet Yellen	45%
2016	Janet Yellen	38%
2015	Janet Yellen	42%
2014	Janet Yellen	37%
2013	Ben Bernanke	42%
2012	Ben Bernanke	39%
2011	Ben Bernanke	41%
2010	Ben Bernanke	44%
2009	Ben Bernanke	49%
2008	Ben Bernanke	47%
2007	Ben Bernanke	50%
2006	Ben Bernanke	41%
2005	Alan Greenspan	56%
2004	Alan Greenspan	61%
2003	Alan Greenspan	65%
2002	Alan Greenspan	69%
2001	Alan Greenspan	74%

Data for 2023 collected April 3-25, with this statement put to respondents: “Please tell me how much confidence you have [in the Fed chair] to recommend the right thing for the economy.”

We can see that trust in the Federal Reserve has fluctuated significantly in recent years.

For example, under Alan Greenspan, trust was initially high due to the relative stability of the economy. The burst of the dotcom bubble—which some attribute to Greenspan’s easy credit policies—resulted in a sharp decline.

On the flip side, public confidence spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was likely due to Jerome Powell’s decisive actions to provide support to the U.S. economy throughout the crisis.

Measures implemented by the Fed include bringing interest rates to near zero, quantitative easing (buying government bonds with newly-printed money), and emergency lending programs to businesses.

Confidence Now on the Decline

After peaking at 58%, those with a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the Fed chair have tumbled to 36%, the lowest number in 20 years.

This is likely due to Powell’s hard stance on fighting post-pandemic inflation, which has involved raising interest rates at an incredible speed. While these rate hikes may be necessary, they also have many adverse effects:

Negative impact on the stock market
Increases the burden for those with variable-rate debts
Makes mortgages and home buying less affordable

Higher rates have also prompted many U.S. tech companies to shrink their workforces, and have been a factor in the regional banking crisis, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Gallup (2023)

Data Notes: Results are based on telephone interviews conducted April 3-25, 2023, with a random sample of –1,013—adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. See source for details.