Hackers May Have Leaked Every Texan’s Social Security Number

If you provide your social security number, you are putting your data at risk. If you applied for a job in Texas and they asked for your number to do a background check, hackers could now have your information.

According to bleepingcomputer.com almost 2.7 billion records with personal information on all the people in the United States were leaked on a hacking forum.

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The records included names, social security numbers, all known physical addresses, and possible aliases. This came after hackers claimed to have nearly 3 billion records for sale that they stole from a data broker.

National Public Data Sued Over Data Breach Earlier This Month

According to a complaint filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Jerico Pictures Inc; DBA "National Public Data", a cybercriminals group called USDoD posted a database on April 8 called National Public Data.

You may have never heard of National Public Data until now. They scrape the internet for personal information from public sources to sell the data for background checks and to look up criminal records.

The hackers asked $3.5 million for the 4TB database, and since then large chunks of the data have been leaked. Phone numbers and email addresses weren't included in this latest hack.

Take Steps To Keep Your Data From Being Further Hacked

The problem with keeping your identity and information safe is that it takes time. Here are some hints to help you keep your accounts protected, even if they have your data.

• Keep an eye on your credit reports.
• Sign up for a fraud protection service.
• Get a password manager.
• Use a two-factor authenticator app.
• Never use the same password across platforms.
• Change your password on your most sensitive accounts every quarter.