Typically, the measuring stick for the size and severity of a breach lies in exactly how many personally identifiable information (PII) records were exposed. With well-established legislation mandating transparency to customers and citizens when their information is lost by an organization, these stats are always made public, and such numbers are easily comparable between incidents.
However, there's a whole other world of breaches that don't get as much time in the news cycle, but can often be far more dangerous to organizations than PII exposures.
Dramatic thefts of intellectual property at the hands of corporate and nation-state spies can impact a company's competitiveness, future revenue, and even long-term viability. They happen all the time, but frequently go unreported by companies, which aren't mandated to tell the world about their very embarrassing and damaging security gaffes. Here are some of the most dramatic intellectual property breaches that have, nevertheless, come to light over the years.