I. THE MASSIVE DATA LEAK
On April 2024, a background check company called National Public Data leaked what appears to be 2.9 billion records of people. This critical and sensitive information includes full names, current and past addresses, Social Security numbers and information on family members including parents, siblings and other relatives.
Public disclosure of this leak didn’t happened until mid August 2024.
Sources:
1) NPD Public Disclosure of Data Leak
https://nationalpublicdata.com/Breach.html
2) What this leak means for you
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/15/billions-people-social-security-numbers-and-data-stolen-allegedly.html
3) How the leak happened
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/08/national-public-data-published-its-own-passwords/
Since then, millions of records from this leak have been dumped on the Dark Web and are for sale by bad actors on the Internet.
We still do not know the full scope of the leak but every record in their database was made accessible to bad actors. In the absolute worst case scenario EVERY record of every person living in the United States, including their social security numbers was exposed.
This leak has also been a bad actor’s crime of opportunity in creating phishing emails and fake web sites to get you to type in your social security number. Never ever give your social security number to any one or any site you do not trust or do not know.
II. WHAT TO DO
2 vetted places you can use to check to see if your private information has been leaked on the Internet are:
1) NPD.pentester.com — Only requires people to submit their first name, last name, state and birth year.
2) NPDBreach.com — People can search for their information using their full name and zip code, SSN or phone number.
III. MY PRIVATE INFORMATION IS OUT THERE. WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT?
Something that every Cybersecurity expert agrees on is if you find your private information on the Internet from this leak, you need to Freeze/Lock your Credit ASAP with all 3 credit agencies to prevent bad actors from opening credit lines in your name.
1) EQUIFAX
https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/
2) EXPERIAN
https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
3) TRANSUNION
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
Freezing your credit should be FREE on all 3 agency websites. Paid service accounts may be able to give you extra protection and extra monitoring features but they are not required to perform the basic credit freeze/lock.
Once your credit is frozen be aware that you will not be able to open new lines of credit or get a loan for a mortgage, car, furniture, etc. If you plan any new credit card, loan, or mortgage activities in the coming months to buy a car, house, furniture, etc, be aware you will need to time the unlock your credit with all 3 agencies to coincide with when you attempt the new purchase.
Please let us know if anyone has any questions!