National Public Data data breach

What happened

In April 2024, a large trove of data made headlines as having exposed "3 billion people" due to a breach of the National Public Data background check service. The initial corpus of data released in the breach contained billions of rows of personal information, including US social security numbers. Further partial data sets were later released including extensive personal information and 134M unique email addresses, although the origin and accuracy of the data remains in question. This breach has been flagged as "unverified" and a full description of the incident is in the link above.

What data leaked

• Dates of birth
• Email addresses
• Genders
• Government issued IDs
• Names
• Phone numbers
• Physical addresses

What to do if you had an account

1. Turn on two-step sign-in. Enable two-factor authentication where the service offers it, preferably with an authenticator app or a passkey. A leaked password alone is then not enough to get in.
2. Expect targeted phishing. Leaked contact details are used to write convincing fake messages that mention the breached company or your real name. Do not click links in unexpected emails or texts about this account; go to the site by typing its address.
3. Watch for scam calls and SIM swaps. Be suspicious of calls and texts that claim to be from your bank or a courier. Ask your mobile operator for a port-out or SIM-change PIN if it offers one.
4. Guard against identity fraud. Identity documents and dates of birth cannot be changed like a password. Consider a credit freeze or fraud alert where your country offers one, and be wary of anyone who 'verifies' you using those details.

Check your email at haveibeenpwned.com

We do not run email lookups ourselves. The search is done on haveibeenpwned.com, the service this list comes from.