Blog, Vulnerabilities and Threats
Updated: September 12, 2025

5 Breaches Hackers Fear You’ll Learn From

From SolarWinds to MGM Resorts to AI-powered phishing campaigns, five incidents show that attackers exploit trust, timing, and oversight more than code. Each forced defenders to rethink assumptions and raise their defenses. At InfoSec World 2025, TrustNet’s Behind Enemy Lines: How Hackers Weaponize Your Security Vulnerabilities will unpack these lessons from an attacker’s perspective and show how to apply them to your own security strategy.

Day in and day out, many organizations work to strengthen their commitment to data privacy and security through compliance and other proactive measures. At times, this even includes investing effort in modeling hypothetical threats.

Forward-thinking is certainly one way to stay ahead of the threat landscape. But it is easy to become so focused on emerging risks that real-world threats, often stemming from long-standing and even old-school tactics, are overlooked, leaving defenses more vulnerable than expected.

In this article, you’ll see multiple incidents that forced defenders to rethink their assumptions. You’ll also learn how TrustNet’s upcoming InfoSec World 2025 session, Behind Enemy Lines: How Hackers Weaponize Your Security Vulnerabilities, gives you practical ways to turn these lessons into stronger, more resilient strategies.

Breach #1: SolarWinds & the Supply Chain Reckoning

In late 2020, attackers compromised SolarWinds’ Orion IT monitoring software, weaponizing trusted updates to deliver the Sunburst backdoor. This became one of the largest supply chain incidents ever recorded.

What happened

Malicious code was injected into Orion updates in early 2020.
More than 18,000 customers installed the tainted software, including U.S. federal agencies and major enterprises like Microsoft, FireEye, and Cisco.
The malware blended with legitimate traffic, stayed dormant at first, then enabled lateral movement and data theft.

Why it changed the game

It proved that trust is an attack surface. Digitally signed updates aren’t always safe.
The scope showed how one vendor compromise can ripple across thousands of organizations.
Detection lagged for over a year, highlighting the dangers of long attacker dwell time.

The breach forced defenders to rethink that trust must be verified, not assumed.

Prevention takeaway

Adopt zero trust principles to verify updates and code integrity beyond digital signatures.
Enforce software bill of materials (SBOMs) and vendor risk assessments.
Deploy anomaly detection for unusual update behavior or command-and-control traffic.
Shorten dwell time with continuous monitoring and faster incident response.

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Breach #2: Toyota Cloud Misconfiguration

In 2023, Toyota confirmed that misconfigured cloud services had exposed customer and vehicle data for years. Unlike an exploit or malware attack, this incident happened because critical databases were accidentally left open to the public, proving that oversight failures can be just as damaging as advanced intrusions.

What happened

From November 2013 to April 2023, location data tied to about 2.15 million vehicles was accessible online.
Exposed information included GPS terminal IDs, chassis numbers, and location timestamps from T-Connect, G-Link, and G-BOOK services.
Additional misconfigurations exposed personal details such as names, phone numbers, emails, and VINs, along with metadata for navigation services affecting around 260,000 customers.
Some services also leaked recorded video from vehicle cameras during this period.

Why it changed the game

It showed that simple configuration errors can create risks equal to zero-day exploits.
Sensitive telemetry and personal data can leak without a single line of malicious code.
It underscored the need for continuous monitoring, automated checks, and stricter cloud governance.

The incident reminded defenders that security gaps are often caused by human error, not just sophisticated attackers.

Prevention takeaway

Use automated misconfiguration scanning across cloud assets.
Apply least privilege to limit exposure of sensitive data stores.
Enforce encryption at rest and in transit even for “internal” datasets.
Perform regular red-team exercises to simulate cloud oversight failures.

Breach #3: MGM Resorts Ransomware

In September 2023, MGM Resorts was hit by a ransomware attack that started with a simple phone call. Instead of exploiting a technical flaw, attackers used social engineering to bypass controls, proving that timing and human manipulation can cripple even the most secure enterprises.

What happened

From a LinkedIn profile, the Scattered Spider group identified an MGM employee and impersonated them in a call to the company’s help desk.
Help desk staff reset the credentials, giving attackers access to MGM’s Okta and Azure environments/tenants.
The attackers partnered with the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware gang and deployed malware across MGM’s systems.
The breach disrupted slot machines, hotel room keys, reservations, ATMs, and digital payments for days.
The attack cost MGM more than $100 million in lost revenue and recovery expenses.

Why it changed the game

It proved that human manipulation could outmaneuver sophisticated technical defenses.
It showed that a single weak verification step at the help desk can cascade into widespread outages.
It reminded defenders that timing, persistence, and social engineering often matter more to attackers than technical exploits.

The breach demonstrated that in high-stakes environments, people remain the most exploitable entry point.

Prevention takeaway

Implement stronger help desk verification such as multi-channel callbacks or identity proofing.
Limit lateral movement with segmented networks and least-privilege identity controls.
Provide ongoing social engineering training that covers deep persistence tactics.

Breach #4: Twitter Source Code Leak

In March 2023, Twitter discovered that internal source code had gone public on GitHub. This was not a hack. Instead, weak insider controls or actions by departing employees likely caused the exposure, proving how internal oversights can become serious breaches.

What happened

Portions of Twitter’s proprietary platform code and internal tools appeared on GitHub under the username FreeSpeechEnthusiast.
Twitter filed a DMCA takedown request, and GitHub removed the repository.
The company obtained a subpoena to identify the leaker and anyone who accessed or downloaded the code.
Executives suspected that a former employee may have leaked the data after mass layoffs earlier in the year.

Why it changed the game

It showed how insiders, whether intentional or accidental, can amplify risk.
The leak put sensitive architecture and potential vulnerabilities into public view.
It highlighted the need for stronger access controls, exit procedures, and monitoring of intellectual property.

The breach reminded defenders that threats often come from within as much as from the outside.

Prevention takeaway

Apply strict access management for source code repositories.
Strengthen employee offboarding procedures with immediate credential revocation.
Use data loss prevention (DLP) monitoring to flag unusual code exfiltration.
Encourage insider threat awareness programs to balance trust with accountability.

Breach #5: AI-Powered Phishing Campaigns

Attackers now weaponize AI not to exploit systems directly, but to manipulate trust. Deepfake voices and videos make phishing scalable and difficult to detect.

What happened

In 2019, a UK energy firm’s CEO was tricked into wiring about $243,000 USD after a fraudster used an AI-generated voice to impersonate his parent company’s chief executive.
In 2024, an employee in Hong Kong transferred more than $25 million USD after joining what appeared to be a legitimate video call with his CFO. Investigators later confirmed the CFO was a deepfake.

Why these changed the game

These attacks showed how AI lets adversaries scale deception, bypass traditional defenses, and make impersonation both convincing and automated.

Prevention takeaway

Defenders must go beyond basic awareness training. A stronger approach includes:

Behavior-based EDR that looks for abnormal execution patterns instead of relying only on static signatures.
AI-powered phishing simulations that expose employees to realistic voice, video, and email lures, helping them practice recognition before a real attack lands.
Expert-led security assessments that measure how well existing defenses and controls withstand advanced threats.
Stronger identity verification for financial approvals, including multi-person sign-off and out-of-band verification for large transfers.
Continuous monitoring of communication channels such as email, collaboration tools, and messaging apps for indicators of AI-generated content.

Continuous monitoring and validation of your attack surface is essential. Solutions like iTrust provide real-time visibility, AI-driven insights, and expert-led testing to ensure risks are caught before attackers can exploit them.

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Key Takeaways & Next Steps

These incidents confirm that attackers exploit trust, timing, and human error as much as technology flaws. Defenders must think like adversaries, design for friction, and harden identity, configuration, and AI exposure points.

At InfoSec World 2025, TrustNet’s cutting-edge session, Behind Enemy Lines: How Hackers Weaponize Your Security Vulnerabilities, will dive into real-world examples and show how attackers strategize. Led by CISO Trevor Horwitz and CPTO Mike Kerem, this session will show you how hackers exploit vulnerabilities and how to close those gaps before they do.