A gang of malicious hackers may have stolen the Social Security number of every American in a massive theft of personal information from a large data broker that experts are calling “a five-alarm wake-up call.”
Following the online theft, which took place four months ago, one of the hackers is said to have published most of the sensitive data on the dark web for free.
Now that this sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, has become widely available, it could lead to widespread identity theft, fraud, and other crimes.
“If this is, in fact, virtually the entire dossier on all of us, it’s certainly far more concerning (than previous breaches),” said cybersecurity expert Teresa Murray. Yahoo News.
A vicious gang of hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every American in a massive theft of personal information from a large data broker.
Now that this sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, has become widely available, it could lead to rampant identity theft, fraud, and other miscellaneous crimes.
“If people didn’t take precautions in the past, which they should have, this should be a five-alarm wake-up call for them,” Murray continued.
In April, a notorious hacking gang known as USDoD claimed responsibility for stealing sensitive personal records on 2.9 billion people from National Public Data, which often provides personal information to employers, staffing agencies and private investigators.
On a hacker forum, the USDoD offered to sell the valuable data, which included records of individuals from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
According to a post on X.com by a cybersecurity expert, the group claimed it was selling the 4TB database for $3.5 million.
In April, a notorious hacking gang known as USDoD claimed responsibility for stealing sensitive personal records of 2.9 billion people from the National Public Database.
The hacker went on to claim that the database contained around 2.7 billion records, which came with a person’s full name, date of birth, address and Social Security number.
But last week, an alleged member of the hacking gang, known by the name Felice, said on the forum that they were offering “the entire NPD database.”
The hacker went on to claim that the database contained around 2.7 billion records, which included a person’s full name, date of birth, and address.
It also contained Social Security numbers, phone numbers, and dates of birth and alternate names.
Sections of the data that Felice made available have since been seen by cybersecurity media outlets.
According to experts, the data appeared to be authentic.
According YahooNational Public Data has been informing people who have contacted them regarding the data breach that they are “looking into these matters.”
The data broker also reportedly stated that they have “purged the entire database, in its entirety, of each and every entry, essentially excluding everyone.”
The hacker went on to claim that the database contained around 2.7 billion records, which came with the person’s full name, date of birth and address.
In doing so, National Public Data has removed “nonpublic personal information” about individuals, although it may be required to retain certain documents to “comply with legal obligations.”
Although email addresses were notably absent from the hackers’ database, malicious people could still do “all sorts of things,” according to Murray.
With the information they already have in hand, criminals could try to hijack someone’s bank account.
“For someone who is really skilled at this, the possibilities are endless,” Murray added.