Six scariest hacks of 2015

Some 20 million people had their name, home address, and Social Security number stolen in 2015. But in addition to that there were some 5.6 million fingerprints that were also taken as part of the attack. As if that wasn’t bad enough, as many as 1 million people affected by the breach weren’t able to be notified by the US govt agency that their data was compromised because their mailing address had changed.

Android vulnerability

A nasty Android vulnerability called “Stagefright” went public in July. The exploit would let hackers take over the OS of any Android phone without the user even knowing. With almost 1 billion Android devices affected, researchers called it one of biggest smartphone security flaws ever.

Ashley Madison Hack

In July, it was revealed that infidelity website Ashley Madison was breached and some 32-million users had their information posted to the internet. Ashley Madison, though, claims that since the hack it has actually seen increased growth. Users, though, haven’t been so lucky.

FireFox Security Hole

During the first week of August, Mozilla warned users about a FireFox exploit in an ad on a Russian news site. The vulnerability allowed hackers to search for and steal files from computers without the owner ever knowing. Mozilla said only desktop versions of the browser were affected.

Mac OS X Zero-day

Even Apple was hit with a major security headache when it was revealed that hackers were exploiting a vulnerability called DYLD. DYLD is known as a “zeroday exploit” because it’s a security hole that the software creator doesn’t even know exists.

GM’s car OS Hacked

The 29-year-old hacker Samy Kamkar built a device that could take over GM cars that have the OnStar system. Kamkar built the device, which he dubbed the “OwnStar” system, for about $100. The gadget enabled him to locate, unlock, and start the car. by simply attaching it to the car he wanted to target and it would hijack the system.

Corvette brakes Hacked

A scary vulnerability in cellularcapable car dongles enables hackers to take control over certain functions in cars, including car brakes and the windshield wipers. Security researchers used a Corvette to demo how to exploit the vulnerability, but they said that the exploit could work on almost any car with a dongle.