Experian Lapse Allowed ID Theft Service Access to 200 Million Consumer Records

  • 10 March 2014
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In October 2013, KrebsOnSecurity published an exclusive story detailing how a Vietnamese man running an online identity theft service bought personal and financial records on Americans directly from a company owned by Experian, one of the three major U.S. credit bureaus. Today’s story looks deeper at the damage wrought in this colossal misstep by one of the nation’s largest data brokers.

Last week, Hieu Minh Ngo, a 24-year-old Vietnamese national, pleaded guilty to running an identity theft service out of his home in Vietnam. Ngo was arrested last year in Guam by U.S. Secret Service agents after he was lured into visiting the U.S. territory to consummate a business deal with a man he believed could deliver huge volumes of consumers’ personal and financial data for resale.

But according to prosecutors, Ngo had already struck deals with one of the world’s biggest data brokers: Experian. Court records just released last week show that Ngo tricked an Experian subsidiary into giving him direct access to personal and financial data on more than 200 million Americans.
 
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Userlevel 7
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This one is quite scary!
Userlevel 5
My dad's going to be scared about this!
Userlevel 7
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Are you kidding me? Now what? nothing is safe..you might as well go underground. Our Data is being stolen from every angle..

Thanks Jasper for all these researched security posts...I love being informed!

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