Amina Zilic
Cybersecurity breaches have become increasingly common in recent years, with a growing number of employees within organizations falling victim to hackers and cybercriminals. Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) experts are often called upon to investigate and mitigate the damage caused by these breaches. In 2024, the United States has already seen several significant cyber breaches, each with unique characteristics and consequences.
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the five biggest security breaches that have occurred in the US so far in 2024. By examining these high-profile cases, we can see just how many different sectors in the US remain vulnerable to attack and gain a better understanding of the evolving threat landscape and the importance of enabling incident readiness at the heart of your SOC and cyber resilience efforts.
1. HealthNet
In February 2024, HealthNet, a major healthcare provider, suffered a ransomware attack that compromised the personal health information (PHI) of over 3 million patients. The attackers believed to be part of the notorious REvil ransomware group, encrypted critical systems and demanded a ransom of $10 million in cryptocurrency.
The breach resulted in significant disruptions to healthcare services, with some facilities reverting to manual processes for several days. The incident highlighted the vulnerability of the healthcare sector to cyber threats and underscored the need for robust cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive patient data.
2. Tesla
In March 2024, Tesla experienced a data breach when attackers infiltrated the company’s network through a phishing attack targeting employees. The breach led to the exposure of confidential information, including employee records and proprietary data on Tesla’s latest vehicle models.
The attackers, who claimed affiliation with the hacker group Lapsus$, demanded a ransom to prevent the public release of the stolen data. Tesla refused to pay, opting instead to work with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to mitigate the damage. The breach highlighted the risks of social engineering attacks and the importance of employee cybersecurity training.
3. Citibank
In April 2024, Citibank, one of the largest banking institutions in the US, suffered a cyber attack that compromised the financial data of over 5 million customers. The attackers exploited a vulnerability in Citibank’s online banking platform to gain unauthorized access to customer accounts.
The breach resulted in significant financial losses for some customers, prompting Citibank to implement enhanced security measures and offer free credit monitoring services. This incident emphasized the critical need for continuous security assessments and timely patching of vulnerabilities in financial institutions.
4. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
In May 2024, Amazon Web Services (AWS) faced a significant security incident when attackers exploited a misconfiguration in one of its cloud services. The breach affected multiple high-profile clients, leading to the exposure of sensitive data, including intellectual property and financial information.
The incident underscored the importance of secure cloud configurations and the shared responsibility model in cloud security. AWS responded by rolling out new security features and conducting a comprehensive review of its services to prevent future breaches.
5. Zoom
In June 2024, Zoom, the popular video conferencing platform, experienced a major data breach that exposed the personal information of over 100 million users. The attackers exploited a zero-day vulnerability to access Zoom’s database, obtaining user data such as email addresses, passwords, and meeting recordings.
The breach caused widespread concern among Zoom’s user base, leading to calls for improved security measures and transparency from the company. Zoom quickly patched the vulnerability and enhanced its security protocols, but the incident served as a stark reminder of the ongoing threats to digital communication platforms.
Time for a different approach
The above examples were high-profile but by no means isolated cases. The reality is that, despite significant investment in blocking and monitoring solutions, a cyber breach is inevitable. The need for fast, scalable, and automated investigation and incident response capability will continue to grow.
We see evidence for this in the static dwell time over recent years. A relative lack of investment in post-alert investigation capability (compared to blocking and monitoring) means that when there is a breach, it still takes around 280 days to identify and contain.
Cyber threats will only continue to increase and evolve. Addressing them effectively will require a multi-layered approach that includes: better and more frequent employee cybersecurity education, timely software patching routines, and having highly skilled cybersecurity practitioners.
These professionals need to be armed with the right solutions that provide them with the deep visibility and insights at speed to understand the scope and nature of the attack, inform adequate response, allowing a secure and timely return to business. .
It equally highlights that prevention measures alone are not enough, by equipping organizations with the ability
to proactively identify and hunt for threats based on indicators of compromise (IOC) and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP). This enables organizations to move swiftly to handle threats and stop attacks before they cause a major incident, walk away with sensitive information or your crown jewels. This is why we built Binalyze AIR, the fastest and most comprehensive investigation and response automation platform..
To find out more about AIR and how it can improve your investigation and response capabilities and help maintain a more resilient cybersecurity posture - why not sign up for a free 14-day trial?
Simply click the link below to start your trial today.
