WannaCry, NotPetya and more: Mega cybersecurity disasters that world saw in 2017

Here is the list of 2017’s biggest cybersecurity disasters.

Shadow Brokers

Many of the recent ransomware attacks like Petya/Not Petya and WannaCry are linked to the mysterious hacking group — Shadow Brokers,

The group's activities came to light in August 2016 when it claimed to have hacked the spy tools of the NSA-linked operation — Equation Group.

Shadow Brokers's heaviest dent came this April when it released a trove of crucial NSA tools, including a Windows exploit named EternalBlue.

Hackers used EternalBlue to extort money through the recent ransomware attacks.

WannaCry

On May 12, a ransomware called WannaCry targeted thousands of public utilities and large corporations globally.

The ransomware temporarily crippled National Health Service hospitals and facilities in the United Kingdom spawning chaos at emergency rooms and delaying vital medicine procedures.

The ransomware also had flaws in it, including a mechanism that security experts effectively used as a kill switch to render the malware unusable and stop its spread.

Petya, NotPetya, Nyetya, Goldeneye

Come June, another ransomware that nearly terrorised big global giants emerged. The ransomware went by many names such as Petya, NotPetya, Nyetya and Goldeneye. Its impact was far more devastating than WannaCry.

It infected networks in multiple countries like US pharmaceutical company Merck, Danish Shipping company Maersk, Russian oil giant Rosneft.

The Ukranian infrastructure was hit hard by it, which disrupted the countries utilities like power, airports, public transport, banks.

Though Petya exploited targets worldwide, it still had some flaws like an ineffective and inefficient payment system.

Macron Campaign Hack

Two days before the French Presidential election, hackers leaked a 9-GB trove of emails from the En Marche! — the party that France's current president Emmanuel Macron belongs to.

Macron's efforts to salvage the situation couldn't bear much fruit as candidates are barred from speaking publicly two days before an election.

Researchers found evidence that the Russian-government-linked hacker group Fancy Bear attempted to target the Macron campaign in March.

WikiLeaks CIA Vault 7

WikiLeaks on March 7, published a data trove containing 8,761 documents allegedly stolen from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) which contained extensive information about alleged spying operations and hacking tools.

It included iOS and Android vulnerabilities, bugs in Windows and an ability to turn some smart TVs into listening devices.

WikiLeaks called it as “Vault 7." The dump revealed detailed individual tools for things like using WiFi signals to track a device’s location, and persistently surveilling Macs by controlling the fundamental layer of code that coordinates hardware and software.