A hacking group is claiming it successfully stole three billion personal records, including Social Security numbers.
The Hill reports more:
The theft happened in April, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It says the hacking group known as USDoD stole the records from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, private investigators and others who do background checks.
USDoD reportedly tried to sell the data for $3.5 million but has now posted most of it for free on an online exchange for stolen personal data. It claims to have 2.9 billion records containing personal data from everyone in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., though those populations add up to roughly 440 million.
According to the website Bleeping Computer, “Each record consists of the following information – a person’s name, mailing addresses, and Social Security number, with some records including additional information, like other names associated with the person. None of this data is encrypted.”
So What Do I Do Now?
Experts say the most effective action you can take right now is to freeze your credit files at the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. That will prevent others from signing up for credit cards or opening other financial accounts in your name.
Warning: don’t respond to an unsolicited email that claims to be from one of the credit bureaus. Experts say it’s probably a scammer claiming to “save” you from the other scammers.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
So-called “experts?”?? If that is the most effective action, then one might expect that the three “major” credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion would already freeze all credit files and shut down most of the banking financial functions. How will that actually help? They can never be opened normally again. Regardless, most people have had this information stolen from other entities on multiple occasions, in whole or in part, and almost always months prior to being informed by those entities, as in this case where the public is being notified more than three months too late …
If I freeze my credit files with the three credit organizations, does that mean I cannot use my credit cards? What about Debit cards? Do you have any more information?