Yet another leak of stolen data has made its way to Breach Forums, a popular site for bad actors who traffic in this kind of data theft. The data originates from the breach of National Public Data, which is a service that gathers information from separate sources to form profiles on individuals located in several countries, including the United States. This leak contains a staggering 2.7 billion records, according to reporting by BleepingComputer.
This is a concerning event because of the granular information National Public Data was collecting. Some of the data includes names, social security numbers, and physical addresses going back several years. This is information that is often used to secure sensitive accounts, including credit reports.
The worst part of it all is that the entirety of this information is available for free for anyone to use. It was originally posted by user USDoD for the price of $3.5 million, which would’ve limited its reach. However, shortly after several others posted partial bits of the data for free. The floodgates opened when user Fenice looks to have released the majority of the data. It’s there in a neat excel file, with a password provided for opening the file.
It’s unknown whether this leak includes information about everyone living in the United States. However, BleepingComputer was able to confirm that at least some of the data is legitimate for several individuals, while others have noted that their data is not entirely accurate.
Anyone potentially affected by this breach should keep an eye on their credit reports, while also being extra mindful of e-mails and SMS messages.