syscfg@research:~$ cat timeline.json | jq . | less
Cybersecurity Timeline
Major incidents, breaches, and events from 1988 to the present. The history of how digital conflict evolved from curious students to nation-state warfare.
65 events documented·48 critical·1988 - 2024
2025
FebBreachCRITICAL▼
Bybit $1.5B Crypto Theft
Lazarus Group - largest theft in crypto history
MarBreachCRITICAL▼
Salt Typhoon Telecom Breach
China in AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile for 18 months
AugUnderground▼
BreachForums Seized (Again)
Third iteration shut down
2024
FebUndergroundCRITICAL▼
LockBit Disrupted
Operation Cronos
FebBreachCRITICAL▼
Change Healthcare Ransomware
Largest healthcare breach in US history
JunBreachCRITICAL▼
Snowflake Credential Campaign
AT&T, Ticketmaster, 165 organizations
MarExploitCRITICAL▼
XZ Utils Backdoor
Two-year supply chain infiltration caught by accident
JulBreachCRITICAL▼
CrowdStrike Falcon Update Outage
8.5 million Windows systems crashed globally
NovUnderground▼
Scattered Spider Arrests
Five COM members charged in US
2023
SepBreachCRITICAL▼
MGM and Caesars Ransomware Attacks
Scattered Spider takes down Las Vegas via help desk call
JanBreach▼
Hive Ransomware Takedown
FBI inside Hive for 7 months
MayBreachCRITICAL▼
Volt Typhoon Disclosed
China pre-positioned in US critical infrastructure
2022
FebBreachCRITICAL▼
Viasat Hack
Ukraine satellite disrupted before invasion
SepBreach▼
Uber & Rockstar Hacks
LAPSUS$ teenager strikes while on bail
FebUndergroundCRITICAL▼
Conti Ransomware Leaks
Internal chats, salaries, operator manuals exposed
2021
AprBreachCRITICAL▼
Colonial Pipeline
DarkSide ransomware shuts US pipeline
DecExploitCRITICAL▼
Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228)
Most severe vulnerability ever - CVSS 10.0
JunUndergroundCRITICAL▼
Operation Trojan Shield (ANOM)
FBI secretly operated criminal encrypted phone network for 3 years
JulMalwareCRITICAL▼
Kaseya VSA / REvil Attack
Supply chain ransomware hits 1,500 businesses on July 4th
DecBreachCRITICAL▼
LAPSUS$ Campaign Begins
Teenagers breach Microsoft, Nvidia, Okta via MFA fatigue
JulBreachCRITICAL▼
Pegasus Project Published
NSO Group spyware found on journalists, heads of state
2020
DecBreachCRITICAL▼
SolarWinds / Sunburst
Nation-state supply chain attack
JulBreachCRITICAL▼
Twitter Bitcoin Hack
130 verified accounts hijacked via vishing
2019
ExploitCRITICAL▼
BlueKeep (CVE-2019-0708)
Critical Windows RDP zero-day
2018
Breach▼
SIM Swapping Era
Telecom fraud goes mainstream
JanExploitCRITICAL▼
Spectre and Meltdown
CPU architecture flaws affect every computer since 1995
2017
MayBreachCRITICAL▼
Equifax Breach
147 million SSNs stolen via unpatched Struts
MayMalwareCRITICAL▼
WannaCry
$4 billion ransomware pandemic
JunMalwareCRITICAL▼
NotPetya
$10B - most destructive attack ever
OctExploit▼
KRACK Attack
WPA2 broken
JulUndergroundCRITICAL▼
AlphaBay Seized
Dark web market taken down
2016
OctMalwareCRITICAL▼
Mirai Botnet / Dyn Attack
IoT DDoS knocked out the internet
FebBreachCRITICAL▼
Bangladesh Bank SWIFT Heist
Lazarus Group steals $81M via SWIFT
JunBreachCRITICAL▼
DNC / Podesta Hack
GRU operation shapes 2016 election
AugExploitCRITICAL▼
Shadow Brokers
NSA arsenal leaked
2015
AprBreachCRITICAL▼
OPM Breach Discovered
China steals 21M US clearance files
JulBreachCRITICAL▼
Ashley Madison Breach
37 million users exposed, extortion wave follows
JulBreach▼
Hacking Team Breach
Surveillance vendor exposed
JulBreach▼
Hacking Team Breach
Surveillance vendor's client list and zero-days exposed
2014
AprExploitCRITICAL▼
Heartbleed (CVE-2014-0160)
17% of HTTPS servers leak private keys
SepBreachCRITICAL▼
Yahoo Breach (500M accounts)
Largest breach at the time; disclosed 2 years later
NovBreachCRITICAL▼
Sony Pictures Hack
Entire studio wiped by North Korea
2013
FebBreachCRITICAL▼
Mandiant APT1 Report
PLA Unit 61398 publicly named for 7 years of cyber espionage
JunBreachCRITICAL▼
Edward Snowden / PRISM
NSA global surveillance architecture revealed
OctUndergroundCRITICAL▼
Silk Road Seized
The first dark web market falls
SepMalwareCRITICAL▼
CryptoLocker Ransomware
GameOver Zeus delivers first major crypto ransomware
JanMalwareCRITICAL▼
Carbanak Banking Campaign Begins
$1 billion stolen from 100+ banks
NovBreachCRITICAL▼
Target POS Breach
40M cards stolen via HVAC contractor
2011
MarBreachCRITICAL▼
RSA SecurID Breach
Seed values for 40M two-factor tokens stolen
MayUnderground▼
LulzSec / Anonymous
Hacking for the lulz
2010
JanBreachCRITICAL▼
Operation Aurora
China hacks Google, 20+ companies
MalwareCRITICAL▼
Stuxnet
First cyberweapon against physical infrastructure
DecUnderground▼
Operation Payback
Anonymous attacks Mastercard, Visa, PayPal
2009
MalwareCRITICAL▼
Conficker Worm
9 million computers infected
2008
OctMalwareCRITICAL▼
Conficker Worm
15-million-machine botnet assembled, never fully activated
Underground▼
RBN Takedown
Russian Business Network dismantled
2007
AprBreachCRITICAL▼
Estonia DDoS
First nation-state cyberattack
2004
Malware▼
Cabir Worm
First mobile malware
2003
Malware▼
SQL Slammer
Fastest-spreading worm ever
2000
MayMalwareCRITICAL▼
ILOVEYOU / Love Bug
50M infections in 10 days
1999
MarMalware▼
Melissa Virus
Mass-mailing macro virus
1998
BreachCRITICAL▼
Moonlight Maze
First confirmed state cyber espionage against US military networks
1995
FebUnderground▼
Kevin Mitnick Arrested
Most wanted hacker caught via cellular triangulation
1988
Malware▼
Morris Worm
First major internet worm
1986
Underground▼
The Cuckoo's Egg
Clifford Stoll traces Soviet hacker via 75-cent discrepancy