Ewan Palmer of the International Business Times has an interesting writeup on his picks for the top ten biggest cyber attacks of all time.
The list was compiled in relation to an international conference on cyber security in London that has drawn participants from around the world.
Of concern at the conference are the increasing number of attacks that appear to be emanating from China, including the recent revelation that some four dozen chemical and defense related companies have been suffering from ongoing systematic attacks, and that US satellite systems were targeted in recent years.
Palmer's choices for the biggest cyber security events are as follows:
Titan Rain
- Titan Rain was the code name given by the FBI for a series of infiltrations into US military security... Known to be one of the biggest hacks of all time, it is believed that the original hack originated from China...
- Michael Calce become famous for his alias Mafiaboy when he took down Yahoo! ... as well as... Amazon, CNN and Ebay. According to industry experts, the total amount of damage caused by Mafiaboy's attacks reached around $1.2 billion....
- Thought to be the work of LulzSec, it is estimated that the total damage of the hacks may range from $1 billion to $2 billion, making it one of the costliest hacks ever seen...
- While not an instantly recognisable name, the hack into Epsilon is one of the worst data breaches in corporate history with a cost that could have reached $4 billion...
- Robert Tappan Morris is credited for creating the first ever internet worm, albeit by complete accident. Morris created the Morris Worm as when he tried to find out the true size of the internet...
- Lamo has gained a reputation as one of the most renowned hackers in history after some high-profile hacks into networks such as Microsoft and the New York Times...
- Mydoom virus is thought to have caused the most amount of damage by any virus ever- estimated at $39 billion so far...
- Without sending a missile or any other explosive device, the US blew up a Siberian gas pipeline which was described by an air force secretary as "the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space..."
- The attacks were significant because they made it almost impossible for citizens and officials alike to communicate about what was happening on the ground during the military operation...
- In 2004, 18-year-old Jaschan released the infamous Sasser computer worm, which went onto affect tens of millions of computers world-wide...
For more details on the attacks, refer to Palmer's original article in the IBTimes here:
Source: http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/241238/20111101/biggest-cyber-attacks-time-hacking-china-google.htm