Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of many Americans. Here's what to know.
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Lawsuit claims hackers accessed "billions" of records, including Social Security numbers, by breaching background check company.

A new lawsuit is claiming hackers have gained access to the personal information of “billions of individuals,” including their Social Security numbers, current and past addresses and the names of siblings and parents — personal data that could allow fraudsters to infiltrate financial accounts or take out loans in their names.

The allegation arose in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Christopher Hofmann, a California resident who claims his identity theft protection service alerted him that his personal information had been leaked to the dark web by the “nationalpublicdata.com” breach. The lawsuit was earlier reported by Bloomberg Law.

The breach allegedly occurred around April 2024, with a hacker group called USDoD exfiltrating the unencrypted personal information of billions of individuals from a company called National Public Data (NPD), a background check company, according to the lawsuit. Earlier this month, a hacker leaked a version of the stolen NPD data for free on a hacking forum, tech site Bleeping Computer reported.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    391·
    3 months ago

    The recommendation in the article was to freeze my credit reports. Fucking awesome. Equifax locked me out for 24 hours trying to access my account and Experian won’t even let me access my account because their website is apparently unable to text me a four-digit code. Now I have to call and deal with customer service for both of them. At least TransUnion let me do it almost immediately.

    • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      11·
      3 months ago

      Having to deal with this inevitable shitshow is the only reason I haven’t done this yet. Every interaction I’ve ever had with these two companies has been a dumpster fire.

      • ramble81@lemm.ee
        4·
        3 months ago

        It was easy for me. I was able to do all three online with no issues. Just offering some anecdotal evidence to offset one other persons story.

        • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          3·
          3 months ago

          Trying now. So far,

          Equifax website logged in fine but I got sidetracked by something else so it timed me out. Try to login again and it gives me a blank page. Disabled ad blockers, cleared cookies, closed browser etc… Same thing.

          Experian website says my email doesn’t exist (an email I previously setup specifically for Experian). Ok submit lost password form using phone number and social… It says to enter the code texted to the same number which they’re showing as existing… Never get the code. Resent code. Never get the code. Click “sign in another way”, taken back to original login page.

          TransUnion absolutely flawless.

          Now I have to go slide my cock back into the blender which is Equifax and Experian in hopes I can access my own information before a hacker does. I’d say it’s 50:50 odds on that.

          Edit:

          Tried Experian “forgot username” option. It asks for date of birth and full social. Says the shit doesn’t match! How in the actual fuck?

    • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
      2·
      3 months ago

      I froze my credit once and I’ll never do it again. Almost stopped the purchase of my house because it took so long to unfreeze. Screw that.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        21·
        3 months ago

        But if you don’t, someone could use your now stolen SSN to do things like take out loans in your name. I don’t think it would be too hard to unfreeze it before you started house shopping.