A recent breach at National Public Data (NPD) has exposed the personal information, including Social Security Numbers, addresses, and phone numbers, of hundreds of millions of Americans. The exposure was exacerbated by a related data broker inadvertently publishing database passwords online. The breach, initially sold by a cybercriminal in April, became public in July, compromising information of over 272 million people. Additionally, it was discovered that credentials for users of NPD’s sister site recordscheck.net were exposed via an accessible archive. This breach highlights the importance of credit file freezes, as detailed personal information is now more accessible to identity thieves.
