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Roomies, hackers have reportedly stolen the social security numbers and personal data of 2.9 billion people. Furthermore, a lawsuit filed on August 1 asserted the claim.
A copy of the lawsuit obtained by Bloomberg Law asserts that “Jerico Pictures, Inc.,” a company doing business as “National Public Data,” or NPD, allowed the “breach” of individuals’ personal information “in or around April 2024.”
According to the suit, NPD is a “background check company.” The business reportedly “allows its customers to search billions of records with instant results.”
“…a cybercriminal group by the name of USDoD gained access to Defendant’s network prior to April 2024 and was able to exfiltrate the unencrypted PII of billions of individuals stored on Defendant’s network (the ‘Data Breach’),” the lawsuit states. “…On or about April 8, 2024… USDoD posted a database entitled ‘National Public Data’ on the Dark Web hacker forum named ‘Breached.’ USDoD alleged to have the PII of approximately 2.9 billion individuals and offered the database for purchase at a price of $3.5 million…”
The lawsuit adds that the published information was confirmed to be “real and accurate.” Furthermore, the information in the breach reportedly included individuals’ full names, current addresses, previous addresses, and social security numbers.
“It also allowed us to find their parents, and nearest siblings. We were able to identify someones parents, deceased relatives, Uncles, Aunts, and Cousins. Additionally, we can confirm this database also contains informed [sic] on individuals who are deceased. Some individuals located had been deceased for nearly 2 decades,” the lawsuit states.
According to USA Today, the USDoD claimed to have captured the personal information of 2.9 billion people between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
The outlet adds that NPD has “not publicly confirmed” the data breach. However, the company reportedly shared a brief message with those who reached out by email.
“We are aware of certain third-party claims about consumer data and are investigating these issues,” NPD allegedly asserted.
Bloomberg Law has reiterated that the NPD still “hasn’t provided” an overall “notice or warning to affected individuals as of the filing.” However, if the breach is confirmed through the legal process, it “could be among the biggest ever, in terms of the number of individuals affected.”
According to PEOPLE, the information in the alleged data breach can “allow cyber criminals to have unauthorized access to financial accounts or to have the ability to take out loans on behalf of other individuals.”
Furthermore, the outlet is advising individuals to “freeze” their credit files with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Meanwhile, USA Today is advising the public to implement multi-factor authentication for logins. Additionally, the outlet is urging the public to update their passwords for banking and email accounts.
Newsweek adds that “there’s currently no way to tell if your number specifically was stolen.” However, the outlet is urging individuals to utilize credit monitoring services such as Identity Guard and LifeLock. Additionally, the outlet has shared an additional safeguarding suggestion from Joseph Harison, the CEO of IT Companies Network.
“For those affected, staying vigilant is important. Watch for unexpected communications, monitor your credit report, consider fraud alerts, and update passwords,” Harison advised.
