The Coolest Hacks of 2020 Despite a pandemic and possibly the worst cyberattack campaign ever waged against the US, the year still had some bright spots when it came to "good" and creative hacks. 2020 unsurprisingly went out with a bang, and not in a good way. The massive cyberattack campaign by Russian nation state-actors shattered hopes for a quiet holiday break for security teams who have been heads-down since March when the COVID-19 pandemic first took hold and rocked SOCs. Workers — including security analysts — were sent home to set up makeshift offices, and existing network architectures were transformed practically overnight. While this year for sure was fraught with disruption and uncertainty, it also made some space for ingenuity by security teams, who navigated a new normal, and security researchers, who unearthed new vulnerabilities that otherwise might not have been uncovered. In addition, some inspired white-hat hacks were already in the works before the pandemic struck.