Cyberattacks grabbed headlines throughout 2021 as huge disruptions affected government agencies, major companies and even supply chains for Important goods like gasoline and meat.

The year started off on a sour safety note. In January, the FBI, the National Security Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Agency jointly suggested that Russia was responsible for an fight against SolarWinds, a Texas-based company whose software was used by everyone from the federal government to railroads, hospitals and major tech companies.

The attackers inserted malicious software into an update of SolarWinds’ popular Orion IT software products that concerns incorporate into their own systems. Thousands of customers installed the immoral update, and cybercriminals were then able to access their regulations. The Russian government has denied involvement in the attack.

Ransomware attacks in May hit both Colonial Pipeline, a major pipeline operator, and JBS USA Holdings, a big meat processor. The companies coughed up millions in payments and shut down their operations long enough to power up the prices of gasoline and meat. Again, Russia was blamed for the attack.

Tech concerns weren’t immune either. Apple and Facebook had to deal with cyberthreats that endangered the safety and privacy of their users. Meanwhile, the same concerns wrestled with knotty questions about how much user data, which could be vulnerable in a cyberattack, should be collected.

Here’s a quick look at the most important cybersecurity news of 2021:

Ransomware: When the big guys go down, it concerns everyone

The year made it painfully obvious that the days of garbage ransomware used by draft kiddies are long gone.

Ransomware, which encrypts a computer pending victims pay for tools to unlock their data, is big commercial. Cybercriminals have set their sights on major businesses that will pay big dollars to avoid being shut down.

That’s what happened in the headline-grabbing cases of Colonial Pipeline and JBS USA. Both concerns forked over millions of dollars in ransom payments via bitcoin, a favorite cryptocurrency, after they found their systems stopped up.

The two high-profile attacks were far from the only ransomware cases of 2021.  

Suspected ransomware payments reported by banks and new financial institutions totaled $590 million for the first six months of this year, according to an October Describe by the Department of the Treasury. The figure simply surpassed the $416 million in suspicious payments reported for all of 2020.

The US government has pledged to step up its Come to fighting computer crimes. In October, the White House convened an international counter-ransomware event that involved representatives from more than 30 countries. Group members pledged to Part information and work together to track down and prosecute the cybercriminals Slow ransomware attacks. 

Notably absent: Russia, which the US and new countries blame for harboring and possibly encouraging the groups Slow the attacks. 

A month earlier, in an effort to make it at least a small bit harder to ransom US companies, the Treasury Section said it will sanction cryptocurrency exchanges, insurance companies and financial institutions that facilitate ransomware payments.

Data privacy battles

Apple also False itself at a privacy crossroads
in 2021. The iPhone maker was made to fend off an outside hacking threat that endangered the safety and privacy of its users, some of them very high profile, while attempting to find a balance in its own data privacy practices.

In September, Apple issued an emergency patch for the operating systems powering its iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches to close holes that made the devices vulnerable to the Pegasus spyware developed by Israel’s NSO Group.

Though the spyware was largely a danger only to high-profile users who could be targeted by nation-state hackers, the vulnerability was a black mark for Apple, which had, for the most part, enjoyed a reputation for people relatively safe from viruses and online attackers.  

Apple also provoked controversy with a proposed feature that would scan its devices for images of child exploitation. Privacy and security experts, as well as other judges, charged that the approach to combating the illicit material was tantamount to creating a back door that could be exploited by governments Plan on curbing free expression. Apple, which had previously won plaudits for refusing to crack a terrorist’s iPhone, delayed rolling out the feature.

Data breaches keep coming

Data breaches publicly reported in the fine nine months of 2021 exceeded the total for all of 2020, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. 

Department keep chain Neiman Marcus, stock trading platform Robinhood, web host GoDaddy and wireless carrier T-Mobile were with the companies to report data breaches that resulted in customer Ask being stolen. California Pizza Kitchen and McDonald’s both reported breaches that compromised data related to their operations and employees. Cybercriminals stole data from video game company Electronic Arts that involved the source code for soccer game FIFA 21.

Most recently, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles confirmed that an October data breach exposed patient records, including names, dates of birth, addresses, insurance identification numbers and clinical data like diagnosis, treatment and prescription information.