More Than 150 Million Driver’s Licenses Have Been Leaked Online.
If you have a driver’s license in the US or Canada, there’s a good chance your information was recently sold on the dark web. A massive hacker attack on identity verification company IDScan.net resulted in the compromise of the data of over 150 million drivers, exposing their driver’s license scans to criminals. IDScan.net is a Louisiana-based company that provides identity and age verification services to a wide range of industries, from casinos and cannabis dispensaries to hotels and car rental companies.
What happened as a result of the IDScan.net hack?
According to an incident notification on IDScan’s website, the company received information “on or about” September 1 that an unauthorized third party had accessed stored customer data, including full names, driver’s license numbers, and government-issued identification card numbers.
Around the same time, cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs reported on a major breach after receiving information that driver’s license data, including digital scans, was being sold on the dark web through an identity theft service called Nexus. The platform advertised access to over 153 million driver’s licenses, and Krebs, along with security researcher Zach Edwards, reviewed the data and identified IDScan as the likely source. As TechCrunch reports , the FBI is investigating the breach, and the database has since been taken offline.
What to do if your driver’s license has been compromised?
A lost or stolen driver’s license poses a high risk of identity theft and fraud, as hackers can use it to open financial accounts and obtain loans in your name, commit mail fraud, create counterfeit documents, and even develop a synthetic identity (combining real and fictitious personal information) that can be used to commit crimes. If thieves have access to your physical driver’s license or scanned copies, as in this latest hack, they have a full set of information, including your date of birth and photo, to assume your identity. Fraudsters can also cause significant damage using only your driver’s license number.
If your driver’s license information has been compromised in a data breach, you should take all the usual steps to prevent identity theft , including requesting credit reports, monitoring your financial accounts, and setting up fraud alerts. (At this stage of the data breach, your credit history should already be frozen unless you apply for a new card or loan, but if you haven’t already, do so immediately.)
Because your driver’s license is highly valuable to identity theft scammers, Experian also recommends requesting your driving record, which can be obtained from your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, and running a background check. Both can reveal whether any fraudulent activity has been committed in your name—for example, whether anyone has been stopped by police or whether there are any outstanding arrest warrants or criminal charges related to your identity. You can file a missing or stolen driver’s license report with the police and report identity theft if you believe your information is being used fraudulently.
IDScan.net has reportedly notified those affected by this latest data breach, and given the scale of the incident, you should pay close attention to these notifications. The company offers credit monitoring and identity protection services to those affected, and you can call 1-833-516-2980 to register.