New lawsuit is claiming hackers have gained reach to personal data of billions of individuals including their Social Security numbers, past, current, numbers and addresses and names of parents and siblings personal data that could permit hacker ton infiltrate financial accounts or take out loans in their names.
The allegation arose in a lawsuit filed this month by Christopher Homann a California resident who claims his identity theft protection service alerted him that his personal data had been leaked to dark web by the nationpublicdata.com breach.
The breach allegedly happened around April 2024 with a hacker.
National Public Data NPD a background check company according to lawsuit.
A hacker leaked a model of the stolen NPD data for free on a hacking forum tech site Bleeping Computer said.
Hacker group name USDoD exfiltrating the unencrypted personal data of billions of individuals from a company called National Public Data, a background check company according to lawsuit.
NPD did not respond or comment.
Hacker claimed the stolen files consist of 2.7 billion records with each listing a person full name address, phone number, Social Security number date of birth .
What should I do to save my information?
Security analyst advises that customers put freezes on their credit files at the three mega credit bureaus, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.
You can get a tracking service that will alert you if your data appears on the dark web and you should make sure to enroll in two factor authentication which will make it harder for hackers to get reach to your accounts.
Freezing your credit is free and it will stop worse actors from taking out loans or opening credit cards in your name.
What is National Public Data?
National Public Data is a data company based in Florida that provides background checks for investigators, employers and businesses that desire to check people backgrounds
Its searches include criminal records, SSN traces criminal records vital records.
What happened with the USDoD hack?
According to new lawsuit USDoD on April 8 posted a database called National Public Data on the dark web claiming to have records of 2.9 billion individuals. It was asking for a purchase price of $3.5 million the lawsuit said.
The file was later leaked for free on a hacker forum.
The lawsuit claims that NPD has still not provided any notice of warning to Hoffman or other person affected by the breach.
McAfee reported that it has not found any filings with state attorney generals. Few states require companies that have experience data breaches to file reports with their AG offices.
The majority of Class Members were unaware that sensitive data had been compromised and they were continue to be risk of identity theft and other shapes of personal financial and social harm. the lawsuit claims.