The year is only halfway through, yet 2026 has already been filled with data breaches, hacks, and cybersecurity incidents.So let's take a look back at the biggest cybersecurity breaches of 2026 so far. Mashable has picked the six most impactful incidents. There's likely lessons to be learned in order to protect yourself for the rest of the year.Here they are, in no particular order.
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Grand Theft Auto VI fans and Rockstar GamesGTA 6, the most anticipated video game for the past decade, will finally be released this year. And malicious actors are already targeting its fans and even the game's developer.Fake GTA 6 pre-order websites, fake GTA 6 mobile apps, and even fake sites that copy legitimate game download platforms have been popping up since developer Rockstar Games confirmed a late 2026 launch for the game.It's unclear just how many users have already been affected, but it's obviously growing, as hackers will continue to target Grand Theft Auto gamers up until the game's release and likely well beyond.Not even Rockstar Games is safe. Earlier this year, the now-infamous hacker collective ShinyHunters announced that it had breached the game developer's networks. ShinyHackers sought out a ransom in exchange for not releasing the data it had stolen.Rockstar downplayed the severity of the data breach, saying the breach occurred at a third-party provider. It also appeared that the data comprised corporate assets rather than private user information.Instructure data breachEdtech giant Instructure, the company behind the popular Learning Management System (LMS) Canvas, was a victim of what was easily one of the biggest breaches of the year so far.The Instructure breach was also carried out by ShinyHunters, the hacking collective that is becoming quite notorious as the likely culprit behind so many data breaches. The stolen data in this breach included users' names, email addresses, student IDs, and private messages exchanged on the platform, which was used by a whopping 275 million users at nearly 9,000 schools around the world. These users included students, teachers, and school staff.To make matters even worse, ShinyHunters breached Instructure's platforms again just one week after the company claimed it had fixed the security issues associated with the original data breach. This time, however, ShinyHunters defaced the login pages of specific schools.The data breaches forced some schools to postpone final exams and assignments, as Instructure took its platforms offline to address the cybersecurity incidents.ShinyHunters is well known for carrying out breaches and demanding a ransom in return for not releasing the data. It appears that Instructure struck a deal with ShinyHunters to prevent its users' data from being disseminated. It's certainly a worrying outcome that doesn't bode well for how future data breaches may pan out.Conduent data breachConduent is a data management company whose clients include many major corporations, healthcare providers, and state agencies. So, when there's a data breach at an organization that handles sensitive data belonging to Humana and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, just to name a few, there is cause for concern.Earlier this year, at least 25 million people in just two states were affected by a data breach at Conduent. A reported 15 million people were affected in Texas, which is just shy of half of the state's more than 31 million residents. Reports state that more than 10 million people were affected in Oregon.According to Conduent, the unauthorized parties "obtained some files that contained individuals’ personal information, which came into our possession due to the services that we provide to your current and former health plan."
