You could be affected by one of the largest data breaches in history and not even know it.
Recent class action lawsuits submitted The company claims it was breached by hackers earlier this year, according to a lawsuit filed against Jericho Pictures, a background check company doing business under the name National Public Data.
As a result, 2.9 billion pieces of sensitive data were exposed and stolen by the hacker group known as USDoD, the lawsuit says.
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What’s worse, those who fall victim to this cyberattack may not even know they may have been involved. National Public Data reportedly collects personal information from undisclosed sources and gathers data without the person’s knowledge or consent.
The information released includes details on approximately three billion people, including names, former and current addresses, Social Security numbers, and personal data linked to family members and relatives of both living and deceased individuals.
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The breach was not previously known to the public. It is unclear when it occurred. One of the plaintiffs, Christopher Hoffman, said he only became aware of the issue in July when an identity theft protection service notified him that his personal information had been leaked and posted on the dark web.
The group posted a “national public data” database containing the leaked information on a dark web hacking forum in April, seeking $3.5 million from potential buyers.
Last month, Mashable reported on RockYou2024, another massive data breach that exposed the password credentials of around 10 billion users, though that data was the latest in a series of leaks and breaches going back several years.
The National Public Data Breach, which exposed billions of dollars in information, is one of the largest data breaches in history, rivaled only by Yahoo’s 2013 data breach 3 billion accounts were affected.
Mashable has reached out to National Public Data for comment and will update if we hear back.
