The 10 Most Massive Data Breaches (AKA Hacks) Of 2014

If you are in charge of computer security for a company, there's one email you never want to get: the one saying "we've been breached." Breaches (or break-ins or hacks) can cost big companies $3.5 million each! Here are the Top 10 of 2014 from around the world. Learn more about getting protected at IKANOW.com

1. eBay: 145,000,000 Emails and Other Online Info Hacked

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According to the BBC, eBay ($EBAY) customers were exposed to malware (software that does bad stuff) for months thanks to a flaw on eBay's website. Clicking certain listings on eBay immediately redirected shoppers to malicious sites that could secretly install software on their computers.

2. JP Morgan Chase: 83,000,000 Names, E-Mails and Phone Numbers Exposed by Hacker

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According to the New York Times, hackers appeared to obtain a list of apps and software that run on JPMorgan Chase ($JPM) computers. They then figured out each app's weakest areas and used that information to sneak into the bank's network to steal information.

3. The Home Depot: 56,000,000 Credit Cards Hackd

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Malware (that evil software again) installed on cash register systems at 2,200 Home Depot ($HD) stores provided credit card details of up to 56 million customers. This has cost The Home Depot around $62 million.

4. Korea Credit Bureau: 27,000,000 Full Bank Account Info Exposed by Insider

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An employee at Korea Credit Bureau has been arrested and accused of stealing the data from customers of three credit card firms while working for them as a temporary consultant.

5. Naver: 25,000,000 Personal Accounts Hacked

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Naver is a large South Korean web company. According to the Korea Herald, The Asian National Police Agency revealed that a 31-year old South Korean purchased the private information of 25 million Naver users, including names, residential numbers, Internet IDs and passwords. He allegedly used the purchased information to hack into the accounts of Naver users and sent out spam messages and other "illicit emails" to the account holders, while making an illegal profit of some 160 million Won ($148,000).

6. German City of Verden: 18,000,000 Personal Email Addresses and Passwords Hacked

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From the IB Times: Over 18 million email addresses, passwords and a pile of other private data were stolen by hackers. Officials in the city of Verden busted the massive online heist and found that many of the accounts were used by unidentified hackers to make online purchases.

7. KT Corp: 12,000,000 Personal Accounts Hacked

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South Korean telecommunications provider KT Corp ($KT) says a data breach compromised the personal information of about 12 million of its customers, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

8. Snapchat: 4,600,000 Accounts Hacked

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The phone numbers and usernames of as many as 4.6 million Snapchat accounts were downloaded by a website calling itself SnapchatDB.info. Did they automatically erase them after a few seconds?

9. Community Health Systems: 4,500,000 Patient Records Exposed

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Hackers exposed 5.4 million patient records at hospital group Community Health Systems ($CYH) according to VentureBeat. This could end up costing the health system between $75 million and $150 million, according to Forbes digital health columnist Dan Munro. The CHS hackers, now known as APT 18, used the computer bug Heartbleed to access VPN log-in credentials, experts have told VentureBeat. CHS said in a filing that no clinical data was taken in the theft but that Social Security numbers (the holy grail for identity thieves) were lost, along with an array of personal information that included patient names, addresses and phone numbers.

10. USPS: 3,650,000 Social Security Numbers and other Pieces of Personal Info Hacked.

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Hackers broke into a U.S. Postal Service computer system and stole personal data, including Social Security numbers, for 750,000 employees and retirees, according to CNN. The breach also compromised the data of 2.9 million postal service customers, the official said.