The worst cyberattacks of the last 10 years

20 of the most common cyberattacks

While there are dozens of different types of cyber attacks, this article explains the top 20 most common network attack examples, including phishing, whale-phishing, and spear-phishing attacks. Learn how to best protect yourself.

Visualizing cyberattacks by country

Cyber crime is expected to cost the global economy trillions per year by 2025. This data illustration showcases the countries with the most severe cyber attacks from 2006-2020.

Visualizing the consequence of data breaches

To get a sense of the grim state of data security today, take a look at this infographic from TruthFinder that explains why 2018 was the year of the data breach tsunami.

Watch a cybersecurity expert answers questions about hacking

From firewalls and VPNs to ransomware and viruses, IBM Distinguished Engineer Jeff Crume has seen many changes in cybersecurity during his 40 years of IT experience. In this video, he explores some of the most significant hacking events in history and provides advice on protecting yourself online.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Minor technology failures can spiral into massive internet outages

A mix of centralized cloud infrastructure and legacy protocols leaves the internet susceptible to downtime from minor cyberattacks or software bugs, infrastructure damage caused by extreme weather, and human error if a DNS service provider—the internet's phone book—or a backend system, such as Amazon Web Services, were compromised.

The worst US bank runs since 1900

From the Panic of 1907 to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in 2023, this bank scholar and former Fed official goes into the history of the country's worst bank runs.

Anonymous' war against Russia

Anonymous has been waging a cyber war on Russia for invading Ukraine. CNBC takes a look at how effective the collective’s six main strategies have been.

A timeline of how Claude Code was used to execute cyberespionage

In September 2025, a Chinese state-sponsored group targeted 30 large tech companies, financial institutions, chemical manufacturing companies, and government agencies by manipulating Claude Code, having succeeded in infiltrating a small subset. The cyberattack is believed to have been the first of its scale carried out without major human intervention.

OSINT: How hackers find their marks

What is OSINT? How do hackers gather intel about targets? Just how much can they learn about you? Learn more as we dig in to the world of OSINT.

How to prevent a worst-case scenario with synbio

Author and entrepreneur Rob Reid reviews the risks of a world where more and more people have access to the technology needed to create a doomsday bug that could wipe out humanity.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Ten defining moments at CES through the years

Iconic CES devices like the Apple Newton, CD player, VHS VCR, Sony PlayStation, and Oculus Rift “Crystal Cove” didn’t necessarily seem groundbreaking at the time. Here's a list of some defining moments from the annual show.

Ten of the most horrifying moments in film

Many films in the genre lean into gratuitous horror, putting off the average viewer. This list of ten moments highlights particularly terrifying scenes from films that otherwise met with mainstream acclaim, from "Mulholland Drive" to "The Lord of the Rings."

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

Explore the components of autonomous vehicles controls

A suite of cutting-edge hardware and computation-intensive software creates the potential for self-driving cars to be safer, more fuel-efficient, and more accessible to a broader range of drivers. However, automation also introduces potential cybersecurity threats.

Relive the millennial panic with 'Surviving Y2K'

This multi-episode series follows host Dan Taberski as he interviews coders, survivalists, conspiracy believers, and others who lived the Y2K scare firsthand—while weaving in his own personal story from 1999, providing a more intimate view of the crisis.

View a list of the worst nuclear meltdowns before 2013

Nuclear meltdowns occur when a reactor overheats and radioactive materials leach into the surrounding environment. While rare, the reasons for each occurrence—as detailed in this piece—can help establish new safety protocols for future reactors.

Many of the 2010s girlboss-era founders experienced a public fall from grace in 2020

In the 2010s, dozens of female founders were celebrated on the covers of business magazines like Inc. for their recent startup success, from Emily Weiss’s Glossier makeup brand to Steph Korey’s Away luggage company. But many of these companies were also the subject of large takedown articles around the year 2020.

Indirect prompt injection is a major security flaw of generative AI systems

These attacks can manipulate AI behavior by hiding instructions in websites and PDFs that become part of training data. The more companies connect sites, services, and sensitive datasets to AI tools, the greater the chances of exposure to malicious code.

The National Retail Federation coined the term ‘Cyber Monday’ in 2005

As online-only retailers like Amazon expanded in the early 2000s, they sought ways to capitalize on Black Friday’s uptick in sales—but they didn’t actually have physical retail stores. Enter: Cyber Monday, a day that now competes with Black Friday for the highest e-commerce sales day of the year.

A survey of armed conflict in the Middle East

The decade following the Arab Spring has been one of bloodshed and violence in the Middle East. In 2011, protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya led to infighting and political fragmentation. Civil wars, foreign interventions, and the rise of...

Since 1600, the longest stretch without an outbreak that killed 10,000 was four years

We think of pandemics as unlikely events, but disease outbreaks are surprisingly common. Over the past 400 years, the longest stretch without an outbreak that killed at least 10,000 people was just four years. The next pandemic can't be precisely known, so experts and policymakers focus on preparation.

CRISPR turns 10 years old

When Dr. Jennifer Doudna and colleagues released a paper in 2012 demonstrating the ability to harness the cell's natural immunity machinery to edit DNA, it received little fanfare. A decade later, the gene editing technology has led to innovations in medicine, evolution, and agriculture—and raised profound ethical questions about altering human DNA.

US intelligence failures contributed to the success of the Japanese attack

Despite breaking Japan’s diplomatic codes, US agencies failed to integrate warnings, successfully track Japan’s carriers, or even believe a Hawaii strike was possible (they also had not cracked Japan’s naval codes). Missed signals, ignored reports and poor coordination led to one of the worst intelligence failures in US history.

Most popular baby names in the US by year

The Social Security is one of the most authoritative sources for data on baby names each year. Here's the list of last year's top ten baby names among those children born in the US.

Ten underrated astronomy studies from 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope understandably received a lot of coverage in 2022. This astrophysicist wants to highlight ten major studies published last year you might have missed.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Poison ivy can cause rashes year-round since all parts of the plant contain urushiol, the oil that triggers our allergic response.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.