Home / Monthly reports / December 2024
Outages & Breaches: December 2024 in numbers
6 significant outages (0 critical) and 8 data breaches (2 critical) were logged in December 2024. The largest breach by records was PowerSchool (71.9M claimed). The longest outage with a known duration was ChatGPT (OpenAI) (8 hours). The most common outage cause was cyberattack (3 of 6). 1 of the incidents mainly affected the UK.
Outages6same as November
Critical outages0wide impact
Downtime tracked16 hacross 3 outages with a known duration
Breaches8▲ 1 vs November
Critical breaches2sensitive data at scale
Records exposed3.6Mconfirmed or company-reported
Further claimed71.9Mattacker claims, unverified
Outage causes
Named attackers
Most significant incidents
- 30 Dec 2024China-linked hackers breach US Treasury via BeyondTrustUS Treasury · breach · Silk Typhoon (China)
- 28 Dec 2024PowerSchool breach hits tens of millions of studentsPowerSchool · breach · Unknown · 71.9M claimed
- 27 Dec 2024VW software unit exposes location data of 800,000 EVsVolkswagen (Cariad) · breach · None (exposure) · 800K records
- 27 Dec 2024Cyberhaven Chrome extension hijackedCyberhaven · breach · Unknown
- 26 Dec 2024DDoS attack delays Japan Airlines flightsJapan Airlines · outage · Cyberattack
- 26 Dec 2024Azure data centre power failure takes ChatGPT downChatGPT (OpenAI) · outage · Power / cooling · 8 hours
- 19 Dec 2024Russian attack shuts Ukraine's state registersUkraine state registries · outage · Cyberattack
- 17 Dec 2024Hunters International leaks Telecom Namibia customer dataTelecom Namibia · breach · Hunters International · 500K records
All 6 outages
- 26 Dec 2024DDoS attack delays Japan Airlines flightsJapan Airlines · outage · Cyberattack
- 26 Dec 2024Azure data centre power failure takes ChatGPT downChatGPT (OpenAI) · outage · Power / cooling · 8 hours
- 19 Dec 2024Russian attack shuts Ukraine's state registersUkraine state registries · outage · Cyberattack
- 11 Dec 2024Meta apps down worldwide for hoursFacebook, Instagram, WhatsApp · outage · Unknown · 4 hours
- 11 Dec 2024ChatGPT, API and Sora down for about four hoursChatGPT (OpenAI) · outage · Configuration change · 4 hours
- 10 Dec 2024Play ransomware disrupts Krispy Kreme online orderingKrispy Kreme · outage · Cyberattack
All 8 data breaches
- 30 Dec 2024China-linked hackers breach US Treasury via BeyondTrustUS Treasury · breach · Silk Typhoon (China)
- 28 Dec 2024PowerSchool breach hits tens of millions of studentsPowerSchool · breach · Unknown · 71.9M claimed
- 27 Dec 2024VW software unit exposes location data of 800,000 EVsVolkswagen (Cariad) · breach · None (exposure) · 800K records
- 27 Dec 2024Cyberhaven Chrome extension hijackedCyberhaven · breach · Unknown
- 17 Dec 2024Hunters International leaks Telecom Namibia customer dataTelecom Namibia · breach · Hunters International · 500K records
- 16 Dec 2024Interlock leaks Texas Tech health data on 1.4 millionTexas Tech University Health · breach · Interlock · 1.4M records
- 16 Dec 2024ConnectOnCall breach exposes 910,000 patientsConnectOnCall · breach · Unknown · 910K records
- 3 Dec 2024Black Basta claims 500GB from BT ConferencingBT Conferencing · breach · Black Basta
2024 year to date
Incidents YTD144January to December 2024
Outages YTD60significant outages
Breaches YTD84data breaches
Critical YTD29outages and breaches
Records exposed YTD574Mconfirmed or company-reported
| Month | Outages | Breaches | Critical | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 6 | 9 | 4 | 15 |
| Feb | 4 | 9 | 5 | 28 |
| Mar | 6 | 8 | 2 | 42 |
| Apr | 5 | 3 | 0 | 50 |
| May | 4 | 9 | 5 | 63 |
| Jun | 5 | 8 | 4 | 76 |
| Jul | 4 | 8 | 3 | 88 |
| Aug | 6 | 6 | 1 | 100 |
| Sep | 6 | 4 | 1 | 110 |
| Oct | 2 | 5 | 0 | 117 |
| Nov | 6 | 7 | 2 | 130 |
| Dec | 6 | 8 | 2 | 144 |
| Total | 60 | 84 | 29 | 144 |
Cite this
Nuffield Consulting, “Outages & Breaches: December 2024 in numbers”, The Daily Tech Wire,published December 2024. https://techwire.nuffieldconsulting.com/reports/2024-12/ (retrieved 15 Nov 2026).
The underlying data for every month is in the CSV download.