CSO Online has published their Top 10 Data Breaches of 2007 - a list which doesn’t look just at the scale of the data breach, but also to the ‘class action outrage scale’ and ‘Do’h! factor’ - essentially, how crazy the breach was. How mad people were or how outrageously egregious or ‘goofy’ the breach was.

“Some breaches on our list are serious. Some are funny. And some are just plain sad. But all of them were probably preventable. Alas.”

CSO Online’s Top 10 Data Breaches of 2007:

1. TJX - 100 million affected. A number which kept rising. Visa let it happen. Customers were not fond of the gift card remuneration.
2. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs - 25 million affected when discs lost in mail. Bad PR response continues.
3. TSA, Part II - 100,000 affected including information of Federal air marshals
4. The Nature Conservancy - 14,000 affected by malware
5. Swedish Urology Group - ‘hundreds’ affected when very personal information lost
6. Shaw’s Supermarket - 472 affected when computer stolen. Which used Social Security Numbers as employee passwords.
7. TSA - 3930 hazardous waste truckers affected. Not an identity you want anyone else to use.
8. Indianapolis Power and Light - 3000 affected by information posted online for 4 years
9. Commerce Bank of Wichita, Kansas - 20 affected, yet reported in detail to the media
10. Monster.com - 1.3 million affected by phishing scheme, notification late and abstruse.

Head over to the article for the specifics of these breaches and their commentary.

Tags: data breaches, top 10 data breaches, data breaches in 2007, data breach, it security, data security