Breach, Threat Management, Data Security

Experian co. gave ID theft service access to 200 million records

Court records in a major identify theft case have revealed the extent of a mishap impacting major credit bureau Experian.

Last October, security journalist Brian Krebs detailed how Experian indirectly sold consumer data to an ID theft service run by Vietnamese national Hieu Minh Ngo. On Monday, Krebs revealed that, through the scheme, Ngo accessed personal and financial data belonging to more than 200 million Americans.

At the time of the breach, Experian subsidiary Court Ventures had an agreement with another company that allowed the firms to access one another's databases.

New court documents show that Ngo, who posed as a private investigator, paid Court Ventures for access to sensitive data available to the companies, including, but not limited to, Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses of around 200 million consumers.

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