A Marketing Firm’s Data Breach Has Compromised the Personal Data of Hundreds of Millions of People
Exactis, a small Florida-based marketing firm, may have disclosed the identity of an estimated 340 million people and businesses in the United States.
According to a report by Wired , earlier this month, Exactis “discovered a database of approximately 340 million individual records on a public server.” It is not known how many people were affected, but an estimated 230 million people and 110 million business information, including phone numbers, home addresses and email addresses, were disclosed.
“It looks like this is a database that has almost all of the US citizens,” Vinnie Troy, the security researcher who discovered the leak, told Wired.
Exactis is a marketing firm that has collected data on the interests and behaviors of hundreds of millions of people. And not just basic data – according to Wired,
Each entry contains records that go far beyond contact information and public records, and include over 400 variables on a wide range of specific characteristics: whether the person smokes, their religion, whether they have dogs or cats, and various interests such as scuba diving scuba diving, etc. large size clothing.
Financial information and social security numbers do not appear to have been leaked, and it is unclear if hackers gained access to the information, as in the Equifax hack , but that does not mean there is still no risk. As stated in the Wired article, this information is comprehensive information that can be used by fraudsters to impersonate others.
We look forward to hearing more about the violation and updating when we do, but for now, read this Lifehacker guide to find out what to do before, during, and after the violation.