Data at Large

Along with the growth of the internet, hackers gained more opportunities

About hackers: A brief history

The term "hacker" was coined in the 1960s at MIT, where extremely skilled and intelligent individuals practiced hardcore programming. Since most people had no idea what hacking was, the term hacker was actually accepted as a positive label slapped onto computer gurus who could push computer systems beyond the defined limits.

During the early 1980s, the term “cyberspace” was coined from a novel called “Neuromancer.” A group called the “414s” was one of the earliest hacker groups to ever get raided by the FBI and charged with 60 computer intrusions.

As time progressed, Hackers found ways to exploit holes in operating systems of local and remote machines, and this exploitation can be used for good and the bad. While majority of hackers do not commit malicious acts against users, hackers do break into systems for a great variety of reasons.

The ones that intentionally retrieve private data may pose real cybersecurity threat to you regardless

Cybersecurity threat is real: Companies are being hacked.

With your activeness on the internet and the prevalence of hackers, how often do you think a data breach happen?

The Equifax incident in 2017 impacted over 140 millions of people in the US. You might have heard about the billions of account information stolen from Yahoo revealed in 2016 as well. However, cybersecurity issues come up more often than what you might have imagined, and mostly on large scales. In fact, almost all types of organizations are vulnerable, data can be leaked through various channels, and data as sensitive as your social security number can be stolen.

A major consequence of cybersecurity threats is Identity Theft Crimes

Every year, people report and complain about their identity theft cases throughout the United States. Unfortunately, the overall number of victims has been risen throughout the time as well. There are states where more people get affected, and states where people are more likely being affected.

The visualizations below aim to help you uncover the patterns in different areas, and raise awareness and remind you to be more cautious if you ever travel to or get involved with certain regions in the United States.

But there is a silver lining in all of this...

Reports have shown that cybersecurity ranks the very top concern of internet usage in 2017 (Source), suggesting that there is increasing awareness of cybersecurity issues.

Perhaps due to this increasing awareness, spending on building a safer cyber space has also been increasing in recent years (Source).