LexisNexis Danger Options, a knowledge dealer that collects and makes use of shoppers’ private knowledge to assist its paying company prospects detect attainable danger and fraud, has disclosed a knowledge breach affecting greater than 364,000 folks.
The corporate stated in a submitting with Maine’s lawyer common that the breach, courting again to December 25, 2024, allowed a hacker to acquire shoppers’ delicate private knowledge from a third-party platform utilized by the corporate for software program growth. LexisNexis didn’t title the platform.
The stolen knowledge varies, however contains names, dates of start, telephone numbers, postal and e-mail addresses, Social Safety numbers and driver’s license numbers.
It’s not instantly clear what circumstances led to the breach. A spokesperson for LexisNexis didn’t return TechCrunch’s request for remark.
Information brokers like LexisNexis are a part of a billion-dollar business of firms that revenue from amassing and promoting entry to giant quantities of People’ private and monetary knowledge. LexisNexis makes use of swathes of shopper data to assist firms detect doubtlessly fraudulent transactions, in addition to to carry out danger evaluation and due diligence on would-be prospects.
Final yr, The New York Occasions reported that automobile producers had been amongst a number of firms that shared knowledge on car driving habits with LexisNexis with out automobile homeowners’ express permission. The information was then bought on to insurance coverage firms, which used the mileage and driving knowledge to find out the drivers’ insurance coverage premiums.
Legislation enforcement companies additionally use LexisNexis for acquiring private data on suspects, akin to names, residence addresses, and name information.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration scrapped a plan that may have restricted knowledge brokers from promoting People’ private and monetary data, together with Social Safety numbers. White Home official Russell Vought wrote in a Federal Register discover that the Biden-era rule, which might have required knowledge brokers to observe the identical federal privateness guidelines as credit score bureaus and renter-screening firms, was “not obligatory or applicable,” regardless of long-standing calls by privateness advocates to shut the loophole.
{content material}
Supply: {feed_title}
