The 2017 Equifax data breach exposed the personal information of approximately 147 million people, including names, birth dates, addresses, and Social Security numbers, due to a software vulnerability. A settlement resulted in a $575 million to $700 million payment from Equifax to affected consumers for out-of-pocket losses and time, with potential payments and free credit monitoring offered as compensation. While the claims period for cash benefits has ended, you can still visit www.ftc.gov/Equifax to find out if you were affected and to access free identity restoration services offered through the settlement, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

On June 5, 2024, a staggering 122 GB of data was scraped from thousands of Telegram channels, revealing 1,748 files with 361 million unique email addresses. Of these, 151 million were hacker-salivating new credentials  placed in major breach databases. This data trove includes passwords and the specific websites these credentials pertain to, making it a goldmine for cybercriminals.

The Ticketmaster breach was linked to a malicious customer service chat bot provided by a third-party company, Inbenta. Ticketmaster used this chatbot on its payment pages without necessary security precautions, leading to the exposure of private personal information such as names, email addresses, telephone numbers, payment details, and login credentials.