1-15 February 2015 Cyber Attacks Timeline

Last Updated on January 23, 2016

I was delivering to Anthem the very unwelcome prize for the first massive breach of 2015, when the Operation Carbanak has brought an unexpected tail to this first half of February.

These two events have undoubtedly characterized this timeline and overshadowed all the others: on one hand, a massive cyber attack (allegedly carried on by Chinese hackers) targeting one of the largest US ensurers, able to scoop up 80 million records. On the other hand, a sophisticated long lasting campaign, stealing more than $300 million on 100 banks in 30 nations.

It is very hard to choose which one deserves the (not so) coveted prize, in any case a consideration is worth: there could not have been a worst way to begin this 2015 Infosec year.

Moving on along the timeline, other interesting events appear, such as the compromising of the Forbes web site (again Flash is on the spot) by a Chinese APT Group dubbed Codoso, a “mobile tail” of the Operation Pawn Storm, now spreading to iOS devices, and eventually an unprecedented campaign targeting Syrian rebels using a combination of fake social media and Skype accounts associated with fictional female characters.

In background, as usual, multiple events driven by hacktivism, whose most remarkable one is undoubtedly the massive campaign carried on by the Anonymous collective, aimed to erase hundreds of pro-ISIS accounts and profiles from the Cyber Space (in particular from Facebook and Twitter).

If you want to have an idea of how fragile our electronic identity is inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011, 2012, 2013 and now 2014 (regularly updated). You may also want to have a look at the Cyber Attack Statistics, and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.

Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).