Protect yourself from data leak of social security numbers and other personal information

[Michael Halle]

Hello all,

Emily Norton sent a message to this list alerting people to a recent massive data breach of National Public Data, a company that conducts background checks. I’m taking the prerogative to send a new version of the message with explicit links to more information and making it abundantly clear that this message is not itself a scam.

Thanks Emily.

This data leak is very large: billions of records of personal information, potentially about everyone in the US. Even more concerning, though, the breach includes full social security numbers. (SSNs have been problematic for decades: they are treated like secrets or passwords, but in reality they are more like usernames, except you can’t change them. Now they may well all be public.)

The combination of SSNs and detailed personal information poses significant risks for unsuspecting victims, including impersonation, identity theft, and various cons or scams.

See if your personal data has been leaked: https://www.npdbreach.com/
I’ve used this site. It’s legitimate. And my data has been leaked. I needed to check an old address to confirm.

(Emily reports her data was leaked as well.)

The article below has information about what to do if your data has been leaked. Be sure to monitor your credit reports, and consider placing a fraud monitor or freeze on your credit reports.

Read more about the breach here:

https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/identity-theft/social-security-numbers-and-personal-data-of-billions-breached-in-national-public-data-cyber-attack-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

Good luck, everyone!
—Mike

[Michael Halle]

Just a followup: if you use a form to check for the data leak, I would not enter your SSN to check for a match. 

An alternative site is:

https://npd.pentester.com

Which doesn't ask about SSNs at all, and provides a more comprehensive list of hone addresses associated with you if your information is compromised.

-Mike

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From: westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com <westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Michael Halle <m...@halle.us>
Sent: Saturday, September 7, 2024 11:46:44 PM
To: West Newton Community <westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [WNewton] Protect yourself from data leak of social security numbers and other personal information

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[juliaannemalakie]

Thanks Mike and Emily!

I agree, I didn't want to put my SS# in some website I'd never heard of. Putting in some combination of other info showed zero or one hit. So I just went ahead and created accounts with all three credit reporting companies and put credit freezes on. Should have done it years ago! If it's not this data breach, it could be another one.

Julia

[Emily Norton]

To be clear the npd.pentester.com website does NOT require you to enter your SS#... here is a screen shot of what it asks for - name, state birth year. 

__

Emily Norton
Cell (508) 397-6839

She/her

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