In 2016, reported data breaches increased by 40%. Yahoo also announced the largest data breach in history last year, affecting more than one billion accounts. What will 2017 hold? We’re hoping for the best, but you may just see 2017 data breaches get even more messy and serious.
January 8, 2017: On December 30, 2016, ESEA, one of the largest video gaming communities, issued a warning to players after discovering a breach. At the time, it wasn’t known what was stolen and how many people were affected. However, in January, LeakedSource revealed that 1,503,707 ESEA records had been added to its database and that leaked records included a great deal of private information: registration date, city, state, last login, username, first and last name, bcrypt hash, email address, date of birth, zip code, phone number, website URL, Steam ID, Xbox ID, and PSN ID.
February 1, 2017: Security expert Troy Hunt, of the website Have I Been Pwned? , revealed that Xbox 360 ISO and PSP ISO had been hacked in September 2015. The websites, both forums which host illegal video game download files, housed sensitive user information that was taken. 1.2 million Xbox 360 ISO users and 1.3 million PSP ISO users were affected and may have had their e-mail addresses, IP addresses, usernames, and passwords stolen in the breach. At this time, it’s not clear who is responsible, but forum users were encouraged to change their passwords immediately.