The second largest data breach in US history
On April 7, 2024, a hacker posted a database on the dark web that contained 2.9 billion records on U.S. citizens. The database also contained millions of people’s first and last names, three decades of their address history and 272 million unique Social Security numbers.
Investigators determined that the data was stolen from a Florida-based company called National Public Data. The company filed bankruptcy at the end of 2024 and has since gone out of business. The company was a data aggregator and broker that collected and sold public records for background checks. The company gathered extensive data from many sources including public record databases, voter registration data, court records, and state and national repositories which thousands of employers could purchase and access to perform background checks.
This was one of the largest data breaches in history and it will haunt people whose data was exposed in the breach for many years to come. There is a strong probability that your data was contained in this data breach, if you were ever required to complete an employment background check.
How do you determine if your data was exposed in this data breach?
To determine if your data was exposed in the National Public Data breach, you can use a tool provided by Pentester called NPD Breach Check. This tool allows you to search for your information using your name, birth year, and state. If your information is found in the leaked data, the tool will display details including the last two digits of your compromised Social Security number.
This is how you can access the tool:
- Go to the NPD Breach Check tool on Pentester’s website, npd.pentester.com.
- Enter your first and last name, birth year, and state.
With so much stolen data available and for sale on the dark web, hackers and fraudsters are taking advantage of these large data breaches and stolen data to target victims with various fraud schemes. Millions of everyday people, like you, now find themselves at an evaluated level of risk for identity theft, fraud and future breaches. The impact of these crimes is devastating and the financial loss are often not recoverable.