adding a little bit of 'data' to this thread 2.9 billion records, including Social Security numbers, stolen in data hack: What to know (msn.com) 'An enormous amount of Social Security numbers and other sensitive information for millions of people could be in the hands of a hacking group after a data breach and may have been released on an online marketplace, The Los Angeles Times reported this week. The hacking group USDoD claimed it had allegedly stolen personal records of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, reported by Bloomberg Law. The breach was believed to have happened in or around April 2024, according to the lawsuit.'
It's no longer really optional to a.) Not have credit frozen at all 3 agencies b.) Not have a credit monitoring service . Otherwise, good luck.
What is National Public Data? National Public Data is a Florida-based background check company operated by Jerico Pictures, Inc. USA TODAY has reached out to National Public Data for comment. The company has not publicly confirmed a data breach, but The Los Angeles Times reported that it has been telling people who contacted via email that "we are aware of certain third-party claims about consumer data and are investigating these issues."
I don't know the answer, but its pretty much time where your social security number is no longer the key to unlock your financial credit or participate in the financial markets. Its on too many documents. Heck, when I was in college back in the 90s it was my student ID number too.
Mine has been frozen for years...for whatever reason I just found out that my Mom's is not. Freezing it is easy, but what's a reputable credit monitoring agency?
Check to see if your SS + Name + Birth Date + Address have been breached: https://npd.pentester.com/search I got lit up like a Xmas Tree.
Thanks for posting this - I put in my details, and nothing for the state I currently live in, but a bunch of matches for when I was in Houston almost 30 years ago. However, some of those have my correct address from back then and many have random addresses and phone numbers I never had anything to do with. Two also have an incorrect SSN. Not sure what I should be concerned about? I'm not sure I understand the whole thing. Why does this thing have my name connected to two addresses I have never lived at? (one at Cummins and one at Fannin) Could any of this negatively impact my credit score?
545m total Americans, ever, as of this graph in 2010. https://babelniche.com/2010/01/19/how-many-americans-have-there-been/#:~:text=If you add up all,ever lived are alive now.
NationalPublicData.com Hack Exposes a Nation’s Data On July 21, 2024, denizens of the cybercrime community Breachforums released more than 4 terabytes of data they claimed was stolen from nationalpublicdata.com, a Florida-based company that collects data on consumers and processes background checks. The breach tracking service HaveIBeenPwned.com and the cybercrime-focused Twitter account vx-underground both concluded the leak is the same information first put up for sale in April 2024 by a prolific cybercriminal who goes by the name “USDoD.” Nationalpublicdata.com publicly acknowledged a breach in a statement on Aug. 12, saying “there appears to have been a data security incident that may have involved some of your personal information. The incident appears to have involved a third-party bad actor that was trying to hack into data in late December 2023, with potential leaks of certain data in April 2024 and summer 2024.” The company said the information “suspected of being breached” contained name, email address, phone number, social security number, and mailing address(es). Hunt’s analysis didn’t say how many unique SSNs were included in the leaked data. But according to researchers at Atlas Data Privacy Corp., there are 272 million unique SSNs in the entire records set. USDoD said they indeed sold the same data set that was leaked on Breachforums this past month, but that the person who leaked the data did not obtain it from them. USDoD said the data stolen from National Public Data had traded hands several times since it was initially stolen in December 2023. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? Should you worry that your SSN and other personal data might be exposed in this breach? That isn’t necessary for people who’ve been following the advice here for years, which is to freeze one’s credit file at each of the major consumer reporting bureaus. Having a freeze on your files makes it much harder for identity thieves to create new accounts in your name, and it limits who can view your credit information. The main reason I recommend the freeze is that all of the information ID thieves need to assume your identity is now broadly available from multiple sources, thanks to the multiplicity of data breaches we’ve seen involving SSN data and other key static data points about people. But beyond that, there are numerous cybercriminal services that offer detailed background checks on consumers, including full SSNs. These services are powered by compromised accounts at data brokers that cater to private investigators and law enforcement officials, and some are now fully automated via Telegram instant message bots. Meaning, if you’re an American who hasn’t frozen their credit files and you haven’t yet experienced some form of new account fraud, the ID thieves probably just haven’t gotten around to you yet.
There appears be 6 Credit Reporting agencies of note. Credit Reporting Companies ChexSystems Equifax Experian Innovis TransUnion LexisNexis
You are going to like this. I went to Equifax website, created a new account and froze my credit. Any guesses what I needed to create an online account? First name Last name Date of Birth SSN Mobile # Address which was exactly the information that got leaked. FTW! ETA: All Experian needed was the Mobile # and last 4 digits of the SSN. Even less. Transunion needed the same info as Equifax. My working assumption has always been that the three major Credit Reporting Companies are likely breached on a monthly basis. I suspect freezing my credit will hopefully be a high enough hurdle for a credit stealer to just go to the next person in line. I will check back tomorrow if all three are still froze.
