Personal Finance

5 of the biggest data breaches ever

Key Points
  • The personal information of some 100 million Americans and 6 million Canadians who are Capital One credit card holders or applicants has been hacked it was revealed Monday.
  • This latest breach does not even rank in the top 10 of the biggest such hackings, according to number of people affected.
weerapatkiatdumrong | iStock | Getty Images

Monday's news that a hacker had accessed the personal information of millions of Capital One credit card customers and card applicants probably didn't shock all that many people.

Data breaches sadly are becoming a common occurrence.

Even with 100 million Americans and 6 million Canadians possibly affected, this latest event doesn't even rank among the top 10 such breaches (measured by number of customer records affected.)

Here's a look at five of the largest data breaches on record to date:

1. Yahoo

SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Number of records affected: 3 billion; 500 million

Years: 2013; 2014

Reason: Hacking

2. First American Financial Corp.

firstam.com

Number of records affected: 885 million

Year: 2019

Reason: Poor security

3. Facebook

bombuscreative | iStock Unreleased | Getty Images

Number of records affected: 540 million

Year: 2019

Reason: Poor security

4. Marriott International

Marriott Hotels with a pedestrian walking by.
Getty Images

Number of records affected: 500 million

Year: 2018

Reason: Hacking

5. Friend Finder Networks

ffn.com

Number of records affected: 412.2 million

Year: 2016

Reason: Poor security/hacking