In a significant cybersecurity breach, the National Public Data company — a firm aggregating and storing vast amounts of personal information — was hacked.
✓ Such breaches are not just about data; they directly impact the lives of those affected. In today's age, it's crucial to understand the potential consequences and the steps you can take to protect yourself.
This breach was massive and exposed millions (estimated to be 134 million) of consumer records, including individuals' Social Security numbers, addresses, and other sensitive personal information.
✓ This post is about what happened and why it invariably will impact you and your personal life.
For more introspect to the enormity of the breach, see our cyber-guru Krebs' blog here:
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/08/nationalpublicdata-com-hack-exposes-a-nations-data/
Potential Impact of the Breach
The exposure of your Social Security number and personal information can have serious repercussions, including:
- Identity Theft: Criminal hackers can use your personal data to open credit accounts, file fraudulent tax returns, or access your bank accounts.
- Financial Loss: Unauthorized transactions and new credit accounts can cause significant economic damage and require a lengthy recovery process.
- Privacy Invasion: Your sensitive information in the wrong hands can lead to unwanted contact, fraud, blackmail, or even physical and property risk.
How to Check if Your Records Are in the Breach
To determine if your information was compromised:
- Company Notifications: The National Public Data company must legally notify affected individuals. Be on the lookout for official communications.
- Breach-Specific Websites: Visit the company's official website or trusted breach notification sites like Have I Been Pwned to check if your data was part of the breach. We recommend not using your Social Security number to search for your record on any website.
- Credit Monitoring Services: If you're signed up for credit monitoring, you may receive alerts if your data has been exposed.
✓ ✓ Frankly, the point of this post is that it doesn't matter whether your information was stolen in this particular breach. You should assume your personal information has been stolen, including your Social Security number. It's a safe bet this is true for you. This data is and will be used to expose new and confounding risks that will be hyper-exacerbated with AI.
Risks to Individuals and Families
If your information was stolen, you could face:
- Ongoing Identity Theft: Even years after a breach, criminals may use your data for illegal activities.
- Credit Score Damage: Unfamiliar accounts and transactions can severely impact your credit score.
- Increased Scam and Fraud Attempts: With your data out there, you might experience an uptick in phishing attempts or fraudulent communications via text, phone, and USPS, and direct face-to-face encounters.
- Protecting your family: Now is the moment to have open conversations about the risks and instill a sense of awareness and critical thinking in all family members, irrespective of age.
✓ Empower yourself and your family with some basic skills and better perspective for enhancing critical thinking skills, and thrive in a safe and secure existence in their daily lives.
Actions to Take
✓ Best-practices Take these actions listed below even if you are not aware of a breach with your personal information:
- Freeze Your Credit: You can prevent new accounts from being opened in your name by freezing your credit with the major bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion).
- Change Passwords: Update passwords for online accounts, especially if you use similar ones across different services. Be sure to understand the "Art and Science of Great Passwords" to make your life easier and more secure.
- Monitor Your Financial Accounts: Check your bank and credit card statements for unusual activity. Sign up for alerts from transactions over a set dollar amount to ensure you don't miss anything vital.
- File a Fraud Alert: Notify one of the major credit bureaus to institute a fraud alert on your credit reports.
- Consider Identity Theft Protection: Services that monitor suspicious activity and offer recovery assistance can be invaluable. See below for ID protection and ID theft recovery solutions that we have a long-term professional relationship with and consider "best-in-class."
✓ Total Digital Security works with a handful of strategic partners specializing in services that protect and recover your ID quickly and with minimal inconvenience. Contact us here for more information and to learn how to protect yourself.
Finally, we have a case study from a new client we met in July that sadly exemplifies the potential risk due to the loss of just a few nuggets of personal information. We will anonymize the case and share what we witnessed and learned in our next post.
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Thanks for reading,
Brad Deflin
