Theme timeline
A history of cybersecurity
Credit: Bert van Dijk/Getty images.
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Cybersecurity is one of the most fertile and fast-moving areas of technology. New exploits are developed daily, and organizations worldwide repel hundreds of attacks each week. Since 2021, companies have also found themselves at risk of being caught up, unwittingly in some cases, in supply chain attacks, which remain a key threat to organizations’ IT operations.
Also in 2021, the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline fuel group in the US was a wake-up call to the potential impact on critical national infrastructure of cyberattacks that target IT and operational technology (OT) systems.
From February 2022, organizations also found cyber threats increasing due to the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to a June 2023 study by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, as well as cyberattacks carried out by Russia against Ukraine, Russia has also conducted offensive cyber operations against the US, UK, Germany, Poland, Latvia, and other countries. The attacks were intended to both disrupt national infrastructures and create a deterrent against intervention in the war.
The major milestones in the journey of the cybersecurity theme are set out in the timeline below.
1971
The first computer worm was created, displaying the words, “I am the Creeper: catch me if you can.”
1982
A high school student developed the first virus, Elk Cloner, which infected the Apple II operating system.
1986
The first US Fraud and Abuse Act was passed, defining federal computer crimes and penalties.
1988
Robert Morris created a self-propagating virus that attacked the early internet.
1990
The UK passed the Computer Misuse Act, which criminalized unauthorized attempts to access IT systems.
1999
The Melissa virus infected users through Microsoft Outlook, causing an estimated $1.2 billion in damages.
2000
The ILOVEYOU virus affected more than 500,000 systems and led to $15 billion worth of damage.
2002
A DDoS attack struck 13 DNS root servers, knocking out five. It was the first attempt to disable the internet.
2008
US Presidential and Homeland Security directives primed a national initiative to counter network attacks.
2013
US retailer Target suffered a massive data breach, exposing the data of 40 million credit card customers.
2015
More breaches came to light at the US Office of Personnel Management and dating site Ashley Madison.
2016
The EU adopted the NIS (Network and Information Security) Directive, the first EU-wide cybersecurity law.
2017
A bad year for attacks, with ransomware exploits almost doubling from 82,000 in 2016 to 160,000 in 2017. The WannaCry ransomware attack infected an estimated 300,000 computer systems in four days.
2018
Research revealed security flaws in every computer chip made in the last 20 years. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force across EU countries.
2019
British Airways was fined $230 million, and Marriott Hotels was fined $123 million for GDPR breaches. Hackers demanded $76,000 in bitcoin after a ransomware attack froze systems in Baltimore.
2020
The threat of the COVID-19 virus forced companies worldwide into a sudden shift to remote working. Cyberattacks on remote workers increased in frequency and intensity. The Information Commissioner reduced British Airways’ data breach fine to GBP20 million ($24 million). 2020 Hackers broke into vendor SolarWind's systems and added malicious code to the company's software system. SolarWinds unwittingly sent out software updates to customers that included the hacked code.
2021
Ransomware group Darkside attacked fuel group Colonial Pipeline, causing gas shortages and price spikes.
2023
Ransoms paid by companies to ransomware attackers who locked their systems reached $1 billion.
2027
Cybersecurity revenues will reach $290 billion, according to GlobalData forecasts.
Source: GlobalData
GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Thematic Intelligence uses proprietary data, research, and analysis to provide a forward-looking perspective on the key themes that will shape the future of the world’s largest industries and the organisations within them.
