The World's Biggest Data Breaches in One Stunning Visualization

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By Samantha Murphy2013-07-22 20:46:53 UTC

Major data breaches, leaks and hacks often consume the news, but the sheer numbers involved — 6 million records or 300,000 leaked passwords — may be hard to conceptualize, especially in comparison to other attacks.

The team at Information is Beautiful assembled a fascinating visualization of the world's biggest data breaches, highlighting some of the most high-profile attacks. It's eye-opening and frankly, rather terrifying.

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Among the most massive recent attacks include those into companies like Evernote, LivingSocial, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo and Twitter.

But technology companies aren't the only ones at risk.

"Video gaming sites and organizations have suffered the most," David McCandless, who runs Information is Beautiful, told Mashable. "In terms of sheer numbers of records breached, they really get owned."

The healthcare industry has also faced its fare share of serious issues, which is alarming considering the sensitivity of the data. Although many major hacks are widely reported on — such as the huge T.J. Maxx security breach in 2007 that put more than 45 million credit and debit card users at risk — many slip under the radar.

"Some companies such as Twitter are upfront and transparent about getting the news out as soon as they are hacked, while others like Apple are super uncommunicative," McCandless said.

If the number of data breaches alone doesn't leave you speechless, you can click on each attack to learn more about what happened. Click here to check it out — and get ready to feel vulnerable.

Image: Information is Beautiful

Topics: hacks, Mobile, security, U.S., US & World, World