The threat of cyberattacks continues to loom large around the globe in 2024. From phishing scams looking to snare unsuspecting users to massive ransomware attacks on major companies, we all have to remain vigilant.
But throughout the first two decades of the 21st century, British companies and institutions have already been subject to damaging data breaches. It includes attacks on airlines, health care providers and even a library.
We have taken a look through the biggest cyberattacks in Britain in the last 15 years. See the timeline in our gallery below - it is in chronological order.
7. Equifax (2017)
In this hack, which affected Equifax customers around the globe as well as in Britain, saw the records of 15.2 million UK customers breached - it was discovered in 2017. The Financial Conduct Authority fined Equifax a whopping £11,164,400 for failing to manage and monitor the security of UK consumer data it had outsourced to its parent company based in the US. Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images | Leon Neal/Getty Images Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images
8. Dixons Carphone hack (2017-2018)
A nearly year-long hack between July 2017 and April 2018 saw the data of 14 million Dixon Carphone customers compromised. It includes the payment card details of 5.6 million people. The company was ultimately fined £500,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in 2020. Photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images | BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images Photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images
9. British Airways (2018)
The airline was subject to a massive data breach in the summer of 2018 which affected almost 500,000 customers. Around half of these (almost 250,000) had credit card details stolen. A subsequent investigation found that sufficient security measures, such as multi-factor authentication, was not in place at the time. The Information Commissioner’s Office fined them £20 million over the breach in 2020. Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images | ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images
10. EasyJet hack (2020)
Popular airline EasyJet was hit by a massive hack which saw data from nine million people stolen in a “highly-sophisticated cyber-attack” in 2020. Most of the stolen data was email addresses and travel details, however credit and debit card details from 2,208 customers were “accessed”. The Information Commissioner’s Office launched an investigation but dropped it in 2023 due to a lack of resources. Photo: PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images | PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images Photo: PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images
11. Virgin Media (2020)
The personal data of 900,000 customers was breached with email addresses, names, and phone numbers of affected users exposed. Fortunately customer passwords were not compromised. The breach was not due to a cyberattack or hack but because of a poorly-configured database. Photo: ANDREW COWIE/AFP via Getty Images | ANDREW COWIE/AFP via Getty Images Photo: ANDREW COWIE/AFP via Getty Images
12. British Library (2023)
The British Library was the victim of a ransomware attack by the notorious hacker group Rhysida in October 2023. Around 573GB of employees’ personal data has been auctioned by the group and many of the British Library’s core systems have been rendered unusable for months after the hackers demanded a ransom of 20 bitcoin - which is worth over £1m in pound sterling. Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images | Leon Neal/Getty Images Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images