Church of Scientology

Although this isn't about it, people don't really know what the Church of Scientology is or does. Instead, Toplist is here to concentrate on their cybersecurity system, which was gravely jeopardized in 2008 by a newly formed hacker collective known as Anonymous. It was in response to what they referred to as censorship after the church removed one of their films about Tom Cruise.

L. Ron Hubbard developed Scientology, which millions of people all over the world practice and spread with a strong sense of belief. "The study and handling of the spirit in connection to itself, others, and all of life," is how Scientology defines itself. Tom Cruise and John Travolta are two of its most well-known adherents.

In retribution, hackers from all around the world launched a concerted effort to knock down websites associated with the church. They also used various partial-digital, partial-physical disruption techniques, like flooding their office fax machines with messages. It wasn't particularly harmful or significant, but it was the first attack by Anonymous that garnered international attention. Denial-of-service assaults, which are still a common and widely-used tactic by hackers today, made up the majority of the actual hack.

• Year: 2008
  
• Damage: cybersecurity system was gravely jeopardized