The 15 most significant data breaches of the 21st century

Here is a summary of the article "The 15 biggest data breaches of the 21st century" from CSO Online:

The article provides a comprehensive list of the 15 biggest data breaches in recent history, calculated by the number of users impacted, records exposed, or accounts affected. The list includes:

1. Yahoo (2013): 3 billion accounts affected. The breach was announced in 2016, during the company's acquisition by Verizon. The actual figure of user accounts exposed was revised to 3 billion in 2017.
2. Aadhaar (2018): 1.1 billion Indian citizens' identity/biometric information exposed. The world’s largest ID database was infiltrated, exposing names, addresses, photos, phone numbers, emails, and biometric data like fingerprints and iris scans.
3. Alibaba (2019): 1.1 billion pieces of user data. A developer working for an affiliate marketer scraped customer data, including usernames and mobile numbers, from the Alibaba Chinese shopping website.
4. LinkedIn (2021): 700 million users affected. Data associated with 700 million of its users was posted on a dark web forum.
5. Sina Weibo (2020): 538 million accounts affected. The company announced that an attacker obtained part of its database, impacting 538 million Weibo users and their personal details.
6. Facebook (2019): 533 million users affected. Two datasets from Facebook apps had been exposed to the public internet.
7. Marriott International (Starwood) (2018): 500 million customers affected. The hotel giant announced the exposure of sensitive details belonging to half a million Starwood guests following an attack on its systems.
8. Yahoo (2014): 500 million accounts affected. This is a separate attack from the one in 2013. State-sponsored actors stole data from 500 million accounts.
9. Adult Friend Finder (2016): 412.2 million accounts affected. The adult-oriented social networking service had 20 years’ worth of user data across six databases stolen by cyber-thieves.
10. MySpace (2013): 360 million user accounts leaked. Social media site MySpace hit the headlines in 2016 after 360 million user accounts were leaked onto both LeakedSource.com and put up for sale on dark web market The Real Deal.

The article also discusses breaches at NetEase, Court Ventures (Experian), LinkedIn (2012), Dubsmash, and Adobe. The article emphasizes the importance of data security and the devastating impacts of these breaches on the affected companies and their users.