National Public Data Hack Exposes Millions: Essential Steps to Safeguard Your Identity and Combat Fraud
The recent massive data breach at National Public Data (NPD), a background check company, has potentially compromised the personal information of millions, if not billions, of individuals, including their Social Security numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, current and past addresses, the names of siblings and parents, and other information. The hacker responsible for the compromise claims the stolen files include 2.7 billion records. According to the nonprofit National Cybersecurity Alliance, it is likely “everyone with a Social Security number was impacted. ” Already, Social Security numbers and other sensitive personal data are appearing on the dark web, ready for potential identity theft and other exploitation. While the data breach poses substantial risk to consumers, t hose risks can be mitigated by quickly placing “credit freezes” with the major credit bureaus, using two-factor authentication on financial accounts, and purchasing ID theft protection from reputable service pr...