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![futurism.com](https://wordpress-assets.futurism.com/2024/08/hackers-may-have-leaked-every-americans-social-security-information.jpg)
Hackers May Have Leaked Every American’s Social Security Information
A background check site may have been majorly breached, resulting in the potential exposure of literally everyone's Social Security numbers.
![futurism.com](https://futurism.com/favicon.png)
As BleepingComputer reports, a hacking forum lit up when a user claimed to have access to a huge cache of documents gleaned from data brokerage National Public Data.
Though it doesn't share its methodology on its website, NPD is believed to scrape its data from publicly available records to create individual user profiles generally used by private investigators or in background or criminal records checks.
The hack reportedly doesn't just affect people in the US. The 2.9 billion files are also said to contain personal information for people in the United Kingdom and Canada as well.
When the alleged NPD hack was first posted to these forums back in April, the person selling the cache for a cool $3.5 million claimed it contained information on every person in all three countries. After that initial sale post earlier this year, others later posted portions of the cache for free on the hacker forum Breached likely greatly accelerating their dissemination online.
Along with containing tons and tons of records that link names to Social Security numbers and addresses, the unencrypted cache is also said to attribute potential aliases of individuals as well.
While Bleeping Computer was not able to confirm whether the breach truly did impact every person in the US, the UK, and Canada, its reporters did verify with some people whose names, Social Security numbers, and addresses were contained within it that they were correct. However, their current place of residence was out of date. Others they spoke to, however, said that their Social Security numbers were linked to people who were not them.
As Bleeping Computer notes, it's important to know that each "record" is associated with every address a person has lived at. If you've moved around a lot, that means your corresponding record from this breach could have multiple address records connected to your name.
A background check company called Jerico Pictures that's believed to conduct business under the National Public Data moniker has been hit with a class-action lawsuit over its alleged failure to protect all that data.
The company itself, meanwhile, has seemingly not responded to any requests for comment, though as the Los Angeles Times reports, it has been telling users that it has purged its entire database and is "investigating" the "third-party claims" about the breach.
Experts told the LA Times that in the case of suspicion of identifying data theft, the best course of action is to freeze your credit cards.
![www.usatoday.com](https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2024/08/15/USAT/74807907007-getty-images-1567584031.jpg?crop=5805,3265,x0,y0&width=3200&height=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
2.9 billion records, including Social Security numbers, stolen in data hack: What to know
The hacking group USDoD claimed it had stolen personal records, including Social Security info, of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data.
www.usatoday.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.
Here's what to know about the alleged data breach.
The class-action law firm Schubert, Jonckheer & Kolbe said in a press release that the stolen file includes 277.1 gigabytes of data, and includes names, address histories, relatives and Social Security numbers dating back at least three decades.
According to a post from a cybersecurity expert on X, formerly Twitter, USDoD claims to be selling the 2.9 billion records for citizens of the U.S., U.K. and Canada on the dark web for $3.5 million.
Since the information was posted for sale in April, others have released different copies of the data, according to the cybersecurity and technology news site Bleeping Computer.
A hacker known as "Fenice" leaked the most complete version of the data for free on a forum in August, Bleeping Computer reported.
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."
Yeah major fucking shit going on rn.