Over the last decade, hacking became less of a novelty and more of a fact of life for billions of people around the world. Regular people lost control of their data, faced invasive surveillance from repressive regimes, had their identities stolen, realized a stranger was lurking on their Netflix account, dealt with government-imposed internet blackouts, or, for the first time ever, literally found themselves caught in the middle of a destructive cyberwar.
It's been apparent for decades that an increasingly computerized world would inevitably invite constant digital threats. But the actual evolution of hacking—with all its scams, criminal black markets, and state sponsored forces—has been characteristically human, not a sterile, dispassionate artifact of an unknown future. Here in chronological order are the data breaches and digital attacks that helped shape the decade. Take an anxiety-inducing stroll down memory lane—and stay safe out there.
Stuxnet
Stuxnet was the first piece of malware to cause physical damage to equipment in the wild, crossing a long-feared line. Created by the United States government and Israel, the worm was used in 2010 to destroy centrifuges in an Iranian nuclear enrichment facility. Stuxnet chained four so-called zero day vulnerabilities together to first target Microsoft Windows, and then search for an industrial control software called Siemens Step7 on the compromised network. From there, Stuxnet manipulated the programmable logic controllers that automate industrial processes. Though Stuxnet hit th ..
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