Massive Data Breach Exposes Personal Information of 2.9 Billion People Worldwide

No matter how cautious you are online, your personal data can still be vulnerable, as demonstrated by a recent data breach that exposed the information of 2.9 billion people. This alarming incident was brought to light as part of a class action lawsuit filed earlier this month. The lawsuit, submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, claims that the personal data, including full names, addresses, and Social Security Numbers, was compromised by a public records data provider named National Public Data, a company specializing in background checks and fraud prevention.  

The stolen data, which includes detailed personal information dating back 30 years, was taken by a cybercriminal group known as USDoD. According to the complaint, these hackers attempted to sell the vast collection of data on the dark web for $3.5 million. Given the enormous number of people affected, it is likely that the data includes individuals not only from the U.S. but from other countries as well.

National Public Data allegedly obtained this massive amount of personal information through a process known as scraping, a technique used to collect data from websites and other online sources. The troubling aspect of this case is that the company reportedly scraped personally identifiable information (PII) from non-public sources, meaning many of the individuals affected did not voluntarily provide their data to the company. 

One of the plaintiffs, a California resident, became aware of the breach after receiving a notific

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