Tom's IT Pro: "Hundreds of minor security breaches occur every day. In the third quarter of 2012 alone, 981 million hacks were attempted around the world, according to NCC Group. That’s 23 million more than the previous quarter, and the research firm’s estimate suggest that the fourth quarter’s attempted hacks will total more than 1 billion. Not all security breaches are the direct result of a targeted hack--sometimes’ they’re the result of bad corporate policy, a mistake, or the work of a malicious employee. When these breaches are made public, companies are not quick to elaborate on what went wrong. Understandably, they want to minimize bad PR, but damage control efforts make it tougher for us to implement preventative measures. This list is composed of major breaches that occurred in 2012 alone." (Software, Web)