---
title: "Spooky Cyber Stories: The Server Slasher - EMPIST®"
description: Gird your firewalls and password protect your networks because it's about to get spooky in here. After all, is there anything worse than a data breach?
image: https://hs.empist.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ServerSlasher_10_10-1.jpg
---
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#### Da, Da, Da, Data!!
Allow us to introduce you to the cryptic Server Slasher. When the Server Slasher strikes, very few servers make it out alive. The Server Slasher has been slashing servers and destroying companies’ reputations for decades. Gird your firewalls and password protect your networks because it’s about to get spooky in here.
You’ve been served. Sit back and read some of the worst Server Slasher accounts to date.
#### The Server Slasher Strikes: JP Morgan Chase
In the summer of 2014, Chase experienced a data breach affecting [76M households and 7M small businesses](https://www.csoonline.com/article/2130877/the-biggest-data-breaches-of-the-21st-century.html). The data breach leaked account information such as names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, emails, and other internal information about the account holders. Hackers gained “root” privileges on more than 90 of the bank’s servers. This was no small job! Mind you, Chase spends $250M a year on security, and this data breach still happened.
#### Equifax Gets the Ax
One of the largest credit bureaus in the U.S. was taken out by the Server Slasher. In July of 2017, an application vulnerability on the Equifax website was the “in” the hackers needed to gain unauthorized access to the Equifax database. This data breach affected 147.9M people; exposing their social security numbers, birthdays, addresses, and much more.
#### The Server Slasher vs. The Town of Salem
“The Town of Salem” video game was hit in January of 2019. A whopping [7.6M gamers](https://www.identityforce.com/blog/2019-data-breaches) were affected by this data breach. The compromised servers for the video game held IP addresses, gaming activity, and purchase history on the game itself. There was only room for one Server Slasher in that town.
#### Coffee Meets Betrayal
The only thing worse than a data breach is a broken heart. That’s right. The dating app [Coffee Meets Bagel](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/coffee-meets-bagel-announces-data-breach-valentine-s-day-n971541) was hacked in 2019 on Valentine’s Day. Coincidence? We think not. This data breach exposed an estimated 6M people; leaking their names and email addresses.
#### Save Your Server from the Slasher
If this blog has you worried about the protection of your data, fear not. We’re here to provide some must-know tips to help keep your servers slasher-free. First things first, make sure you are operating on private networks. A server can be easily infiltrated running on a public network. Next, we recommend implementing server user management and password security as an additional layer of protection for your business.
#### Final Takeaways
As a golden rule, your company should always be running regular server maintenance and updates. So, still nervous about data breaches? The best thing you can do is contact an [IT professional](https://empist.com/it-solutions/) to make sure you are checking all the necessary boxes. For more IT news, blogs, and industry insights throughout the week, follow us on [ Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/empist/), [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/Empist), [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/empist/), and [ Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/empistgroup/).
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### Got A Question?
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