Several years ago former defense secretary Leon Panetta warned about the growing threat of cyber attacks. As we wade deeper and deeper into the increasingly Connected Society in which the Internet is a backbone of commerce and transactions as well as communications and streamed entertainment, the dark side is we are increasingly at risk. Some will tout privacy concerns, and while opinions on that will differ, the cold reality is the more information we put into the Cloud or on the Internet, the more someone is going to want it. What they choose to do with that information, including in some cases email address, birth dates, social security numbers, and potentially financial information depends on who is doing the attack and why.

While this may sound somewhat over the top, estimates put the number of leaked records near 300 million in 2015 with over $1 billion stolen in the same year. While one of the high profile attacks was on the Ashley Madison website, Anthem WLP +%, T-Mobile USA , the White House and even CIA Director John Brennan had his personal email hacked. In 2016, we’ve continued to see cyber attacks, including the one on D.C.-area hospital chain MedStar, but we’ve also learned of either previously unknown attacks or ones whose impact was grater than first believed.