Hackers may have stolen every American’s Social Security number: Report

Public advocates fear that a possible tsunami of identity theft is coming after a hacking group claims it was able to steal nearly three billion personal records, including social security numbers.

The theft happened in April, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It says the hacking group known as USDoD stole the records from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, private investigators and others who do background checks.

USDoD reportedly tried to sell the data for $3.5 million but has now posted most of it for free on an online exchange for stolen personal data. It claims to have 2.9 billion records containing personal data from everyone in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., though those populations add up to roughly 440 million.

 

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