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From the New York Post: The company that was named in a class action lawsuit filed by internet users who claim that the Social Security number of every American was stolen from its servers has confirmed that it was indeed hacked by cybercriminals who obtained the sensitive data.
Jerico Pictures Inc, the Coral Springs, Fla.-based entity which does business as National Public Data, released a statement last week in which it acknowledged that “the information that was suspected of being breached contained name, email address, phone number, social security number, and mailing address(es).”
NPD, which attributed the “data security incident” to an attempted hack by a “third-party bad actor,” released the statement on its web site.
It said that there was an attempted hack in December 2023 as well as “potential leaks of certain data in April 2024 and summer 2024.”
The announcement posted on the company’s website is labeled, “Security Incident.” The full announcement reads as follows:
What Happened?
There appears to have been a data security incident that may have involved some of your personal information. The incident is believed to have involved a third-party bad actor that was trying to hack into data in late December 2023, with potential leaks of certain data in April 2024 and summer 2024. We conducted an investigation and subsequent information has come to light. What Information Was Involved? The information that was suspected of being breached contained name, email address, phone number, social security number, and mailing address(es).
What We Are Doing
We cooperated with law enforcement and governmental investigators and conducted a review of the potentially affected records and will try to notify you if there are further significant developments applicable to you. We have also implemented additional security measures in efforts to prevent the reoccurrence of such a breach and to protect our systems.
What You Can Do
We are notifying you so that you can take action which will assist to minimize or eliminate potential harm. We strongly advise you to take preventive measures to help prevent and detect any misuse of your information. As a first step, we recommend that you closely monitor your financial accounts and if you see any unauthorized activity, you should promptly contact your financial institution. As a second step, you may want to contact the three U.S. credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) to obtain a free credit report from each by calling 1.877.322.8228 or by logging onto www.annualcreditreport.com. It is also recommended that you place a free fraud alert on your credit file. A fraud alert tells creditors to contact you before they open any new accounts or change your existing accounts. Contact any one of the three major credit bureaus. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place fraud alerts. The initial fraud alert stays on your credit report for one year. You can renew it after one year.
Equifax: equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services or 1-800-685-1111
Experian: experian.com/help or 1-888-397-3742
TransUnion: transunion.com/credit-help or 1-888-909-8872
Ask each credit bureau to send you a free credit report after it places a fraud alert on your file. Review your credit reports for accounts and inquiries you do not recognize. These can be signs of identity theft. If your personal information has been misused, visit the FTCs site at IdentityTheft.gov to report the identity theft and get recovery steps. Even if you do not find any suspicious activity on your initial credit reports, it is recommended that you check your credit reports periodically so you can spot problems and address them quickly.
You may also want to consider placing a free credit freeze. A credit freeze means potential creditors cannot get your credit report. That makes it less likely that an identity thief can open new accounts in your name. To place a freeze, contact each of the major credit bureaus at the links or phone numbers above. A freeze remains in place until you ask the credit bureau to temporarily lift it or remove it.
🚨🇺🇸UPDATE: NATIONAL PUBLIC DATA CONFIRMS MASSIVE AMERICAN DATA BREACH, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS STOLEN
National Public Data (NPD) has confirmed a massive data breach, exposing Social Security numbers and personal data of millions of Americans.
The breach, first reported in a… https://t.co/C3HGkALudo pic.twitter.com/PhTO7wgtb8
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 19, 2024
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