You’ve probably read about the recent data hack of National Public Data that included social security records, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers, for around 2.9 BILLION people. We’d call that massive.
Even worse? Three decades’ worth of SS numbers have been exposed on the online black market. Worse still? Even though the sensitive info was stolen by hackers earlier this year — the breach wasn’t disclosed until August.
I guess they had other things to do… you know, they were really busy like this lil’ guy:
How did National Public Data get my social security number in the first place??
National Public Data said it obtains personal information from public record databases, court records, state and national databases and other repositories nationwide. NPD is a data broker that sells personal information to private investigators, consumer public record sites, human resources and staffing agencies. So again, who put my SS number out there for NPD to gobble up??
There’s a proposed class action lawsuit that says NPD obtained the information by scraping nonpublic sources without consent. I believe that.
Check to see if you’re in the breach…
You can see if you’re in the breach without your SS number (first name, last name, state and birth year only) at https://npd.pentester.com/. If you’re listed, Experian recommends placing a freeze on your credit file at all 3 credit bureaus: Experian®, TransUnion® & Equifax®. That will keep bad actors from opening credit in your name with your SS #.
They also recommend that you watch your CC and bank statements for unexpected charges and get a copy of your credit report to make sure nothing has been opened in your name that you didn’t initiate.
Crazy… but I’m even amazed that a public search from Pentester (link above), a cybersecurity platform, allows anyone to search anyone else… and if the person is in the breach — addresses and phone numbers are displayed just as they were reported. 😳
Good grief, kids. Our world is a shit show.
Now you know: Almost all vertebrates yawn. Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and even fish all share this trait.