Every American's Social Security number, address may have been stolen in hack
FILE-Image of a generic version of a Social Security card. (Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
After a group of hackers claimed to have stolen personal information several months ago from a data broker, a member of the group reportedly shared most of the sensitive data on an online forum for stolen data.
The data includes 2.7 billion records of personal information from Americans including their Social Security numbers and physical addresses, Engadget reported, citing Bleeping Computer.
Who is behind the data theft?
A hacking group called USDoD claimed in April to have stolen personal records from National Public Data in a massive data breach. The NPD is a platform that offers personal information to employers, private investigators, staffing agencies and others doing background checks, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a class-action lawsuit filed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
RELATED: AT&T hack: ‘Nearly all' customers' call, text records exposed in data breach
USDoD offered to sell the stolen records, which included personal data for everyone in the US, UK, and Canada, to a forum of hackers. USDoD was seeking $3.5 million for the entire database, but piles of the data have been leaked by various entities.
According to Engadget, previous leaks of data included phone numbers and email addresses, but that information reportedly was not a part of the latest data release.
What can I do to protect my personal information?
There are steps you can take to safeguard your personal information amid the reported data breach.
People should monitor their credit reports for possible fraudulent activity on their accounts and notify credit bureaus Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion if something looks suspicious.
RELATED: Live Nation investigates Ticketmaster data breach, customer data offered on dark web
Consumers can ask the credit bureaus to place a freeze on their credit accounts by phone or email to prevent anyone from opening a bank account and taking out a loan or obtaining a credit card under your name.
There is also a service that monitors your accounts and the dark web to protect you from identity theft, the Los Angeles Times noted.
It is also good to manage your passwords and to use two-factor authentication for the passwords. You should avoid using the same login information for different services and make sure to routinely change your password on your accounts.
The Source
Information for this story was provided by the Los Angeles Times, Engadget, and Bleeping Computer. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.