Key Points
- A massive data breach by a company named National Public Data could have made billions of personal financial records vulnerable.
- Many Americans are wondering if they’ve been personally affected and what to do next.
- Here’s how experts respond to some of the biggest questions on the breach.
In August 2024, a new class action lawsuit claimed that every American’s Social Security number was stolen in a data breach that occurred in April 2024.
The lawsuit says that hackers stole the personal information of 3 billion people, including every existing Social Security numbers, from background check company National Public Data (NPD). If true, this would mean every American is at risk of having their identity stolen.
While the exact details of the breach are not confirmed, don’t wait. Freeze your credit now and keep it frozen by default.
Freezing your credit:
- Is free.
- Doesn’t impact your credit score.
- Is easy and fast to un-freeze if you need to apply for credit.
How to freeze your credit
Freezing your credit prevents anyone from applying for lines of credit (such as credit cards and mortgages) using your identity. This includes you, but you can temporarily unfreeze or thaw your credit and re-freeze it.
Contact Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, the three credit reporting bureaus, to initiate a freeze. You must freeze your credit with each bureau—you can do this online or over the phone. We recommend keeping your credit frozen by default.
If you discover someone attempted to open a credit card under your name or discover unauthorized charges, dispute the situation immediately with the bank or credit card company.
Freeze your kids’ credit
You can even freeze your children’s credit, too. Cybercriminals can try to create a different name and identity using a child’s Social Security number – sometimes it doesn’t matter that the number doesn’t belong to an adult. This fraud can happen for years and might be undetected until the victim turns 18! The FTC has more details.
Is there a way to know if your Social Security number has been affected?
Certain cyber groups have set up websites to enable individuals to search to see if their personal data was affected by the breach, Lee said. One site — NPDBreach.com — allows for a search by full name and zip code, Social Security number or phone number. Another site — NPD.pentester.com — allows for search based on first name, last name, state and birth year.
“I certainly don’t recommend anybody enter their Social Security number” in the sites, said James E. Lee, chief operating officer at Identity Theft Resource Center, a non-profit organization focused on mitigating risks of identity breaches and theft.
By entering your name, you may get a sense of what information, if any, has been shared. The good news is most people are finding information that has been leaked is inaccurate, Lee said.
Sources: