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Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of all Americans. Here's what to know. (www.cbsnews.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

103 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A new lawsuit is claiming hackers have gained access to the personal information of "billions of individuals," including their Social Security numbers, current and past addresses and the names of siblings and parents — personal data that could allow fraudsters to infiltrate financial accounts or take out loans in their names.

The allegation arose in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Christopher Hofmann, a California resident who claims his identity theft protection service alerted him that his personal information had been leaked to the dark web by the "nationalpublicdata.com" breach. The lawsuit was earlier reported by Bloomberg Law.

The breach allegedly occurred around April 2024, with a hacker group called USDoD exfiltrating the unencrypted personal information of billions of individuals from a company called National Public Data (NPD), a background check company, according to the lawsuit. Earlier this month, a hacker leaked a version of the stolen NPD data for free on a hacking forum, tech site Bleeping Computer reported.

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[–] [email protected] 105 points 3 months ago (11 children)

It's a massive pain in the ass, but every American should freeze their credit with the 3 agencies. Their websites are shit, they will sign you up for credit card ads no matter what you click, and every bit of the process will make you seethe with rage at how fucked and incompetent the whole system is. But go do it anyway.

I did it last year after the state DMV was hacked and lost every personal detail for basically everyone in the state who drives. It was real nice not having a loan taken out in my name a few months later when Experien called me out of the blue to ask if I really wanted to unfreeze.

I also did have to legit take out a loan later and it was easy. Just call one of the agencies and do a temporary unfreeze for 24 hours. Amazingly, they let you unfreeze to take out more loans very simply. Wonder why it's so hard to freeze in the first place? Almost like they don't give a shit who's creating the debts as long as some poor somewhere can be held to account for it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

It’s not that big of a pain. It took me just a few minutes to make the accounts and then freeze everything. I already get credit card ads in the mail, so what else is new, and everything in my email goes to the spam folder.

I’ve had three security breaches in the last year or so. I think of you have any sort of accounts anywhere at this point part, or all, of your identity is out there.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago (1 children)

And the "Experian Alerts - Your Monthly Account Statement is here!" e-mails that you can't disable, because they, and others, figured out how to get around the CAN-SPAM act by claiming the spam is "alerts related to your account" and not just advertising covered in pig lipstick.

Places to remove yourself from, including the big three:

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Is there no chance if this gets bad enough it could kill credit scores as a thing?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (7 children)

What's to stop someone from in unfreezing your credit if they literally know everything about you and have all the info at their fingertips

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

All the more reason to do it yourself, they all mostly require accounts with 2FA now. Until you set that up, a bad actor could. Once set up, they would have to compromise your second factor as well.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Defense in depth. More layers = more hurdles = deterrence.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There's no such thing as perfect security of course, but in this case it's because having my phone number and address isn't the same as having my phone. So short of a SIM clone or something like that, the MFA on those accounts still adds one layer of protection. There's also "security" questions and, protip, the answer to what high school I went to is not which high school I went to. It's just another, different pass phrase.

I'm just not worth the trouble to beat all the extra layers of security when there's millions of people who's money is far easier to get at.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The pyramid of pain.

Make it hair pullingly difficult to find the good stuff.

You want my name? Fine.

My number? Here's my google voice digits.

My email? I've got dozens.

My home address? I'm gonna need something from you.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

The above leaked current and previous addresses tho

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They have to know to unfreeze. It's an extra step, and unless you're a particularly juicy target, it's easier to move onto the next one.

/guess

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Unfreeze also generally requires a PIN or tied to a login/accessible email. So not only would they need your info, they’d also need your credentials.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Can we just pass a law or act that allows a person to discharge any debt they deem fraudulent? Like if it is known the person had their data leaked and they are signed up for something sketchy we should be able to legally and for free dispute that account/charge/service and have it stricken from our life. To prevent someone from just taking advantage of it though it should also automatically change your SSN or other personal ID number and freeze other accounts that are legit until they are paid in full. Most people would need to use this service at most once in their lifetime.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

This is already the case, it’s not a law, but contracts. You’re not in fact a party to the agreement, so you’re not beholden to the terms.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

Why have this insecure system if security is right in the name! /j

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

that provides background checks for employers, investigators and other businesses that want to check people's backgrounds.

Great editing once again brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department!

[–] [email protected] 162 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Maybe it's time to move on from using SSNs for security? We have someting similar in Sweden - "person numbers". If I call the tax authority and ask for someone's "person number" they will tell me. They're not secret in any way, and thus not used as some form of authentication either.

[–] [email protected] 82 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The old social security cards had "NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION" printed on them for a reason.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (5 children)

But how exactly does it work when applying for something like a credit card or going to a doctors office and filling out a form? Because here in the US those ask for SSN

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Doctor's office and credit card companies don't need your ssn. It is one of the easiest places to steal them from.

https://clark.com/show-notes/10-worst-places-give-your-social-security-number/

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

You don't have to give anyone your SSN, especially for medical. There are ways to bill without SSN.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They ask for SSN because there is no other form of national ID in the US (by design). SSNs were not introduced with this use in mind in fact they were explicitly meant to not be used this way, but society has slowly twisted it into a de facto national ID.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (3 children)

what was meant to be used then?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago

To track contributions and withdrawals to the social security system. Pretty much everyone in enrolled, so pretty much everyone has an SSN.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Americans explicitly didn't want a national ID.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago

We really are kinda fuckin dumb in the US. It's like we're equally deeply suspicious of our government but too dumb to understand how it works so we ends up with blind, ignorant cynicism

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think there should be an amendment allowing the creation of a Unique Population Registry Key that uses numeric and alphabetic characters.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Everyone should also get a procedurally-generated theme song.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

And yet we have multiple of them now. Drivers license, SSN, and if you/your parent are/were military, EDIPI/DoDID.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Military, sure, but driver's licenses are state-level, not federal. Health care has been using birthdate like a password (one that is largely publicly available) for way too long now. At least financial institutions can use account numbers and financial history and code words, but even all that isn't great.

It's a messy patchwork, but I think at the time of the creation of the SSA, the US may have still thought of itself as a land of second chances. IBM numbering Holocaust victims probably didn't help the idea of a national ID, nor did the victim narrative of groups like the NRA.

I'm not sure if it's possible not to have a national ID anymore, so denial of it just forces a terribly kludgy implementation from whatever is around.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (6 children)

drivers licenses are state-level

Are they though, with RealID requirements for new licenses now?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Yes

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Jokes on them! They probably already had mine from the Move-It hack.

Checkmate hackers.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (6 children)

The recommendation in the article was to freeze my credit reports. Fucking awesome. Equifax locked me out for 24 hours trying to access my account and Experian won't even let me access my account because their website is apparently unable to text me a four-digit code. Now I have to call and deal with customer service for both of them. At least TransUnion let me do it almost immediately.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Having to deal with this inevitable shitshow is the only reason I haven't done this yet. Every interaction I've ever had with these two companies has been a dumpster fire.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It was easy for me. I was able to do all three online with no issues. Just offering some anecdotal evidence to offset one other persons story.