National Public Data, a background check company owned by Jerico Pictures Inc., experienced a security incident that may have resulted in the cyber theft of roughly 2.9 billion records of personal information, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and mailing addresses, according to a recent class action lawsuit.
The company recently acknowledged the incident, stating, "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."
National Public Data said it has cooperated with law enforcement and government investigators while conducting a review of potentially impacted information and has since made security improvements to prevent future attacks.
But how do you find out if you're information has already been compromised?
There are several reputable sites, like NPDBreach.com and NPD.pentester.com, which allow users to search their names to see if their information has been stolen.
The first site, NPDBreach.com, also allows users to search by Social Security number, though James E. Lee, chief operating officer at Identity Theft Resource Center, said that may not be the best idea.
"I certainly don't recommend anybody enter their Social Security number," Lee told CNBC.
If you find out that your personal information was compromised during the recent cyber attack, experts advise you to freeze your credit by submitting requests to each of the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
This will prevent bad actors from accessing your records and make it more difficult for them to open new accounts with your stolen information.
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