Hackers might have stolen social security data of ALL Americans, around 2.9 BILLION records

A member of a hacking group is selling the personal Social Security numbers and other sensitive data to ALL Americans, with 2.9 billion records available online... for free.

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In a report from BleepingComputer, a hacking forum became active after a user posted on the forum saying they had a massive collection of documents from the data brokerage National Public Data (NPD). NPD, which doesn't disclose how it collects data on its website, reportedly gathers information from publicly available records to create individual profiles that are usually used by private investigators for things like background and criminal record checks.

It's not just US residents that have to worry, but the hack of 2.9 billion files includes private information on citizens living in the United Kingdom and Canada, including personal information from all three of those countries. 2.9 billion files is a LOT of data, we don't need to underline that, but we will.

The $2.9 billion records were put up for sale at $3.5 million on hacker forums in April, with portions of the data shared for free on Breached, another hacker forum, which then "significantly increasing its spread worldwide" reports UnusualWhales.

The data includes extensive records linking names to Social Security numbers and addresses, as well as aliases that people might have. BleepingComputer reports that they were unable to confirm if the breach does affect every single citizen in the US, UK, and Canada. But, the site did verify some of the individuals' names, Social Security numbers, and addresses that were in the leaked data were accurate.