National Public Data files for bankruptcy after massive data breach put "hundreds of millions" at risk

Date:
Thu, 10 Oct 2024 14:09:00 +0000

Description:
The company is facing numerous class-action lawsuits following major data breach earlier in 2024.

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National Public Data, a background check service that collects and stores large amounts of personal data, has filed for bankruptcy after failing to recover from suffering a devastating cyberattack.

In December 2023, the company announced experiencing a cyberattack but said
at the time that 1.3 million people were affected, with crooks said to have stolen peoples names, email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security
Numbers, and postal addresses.

Half a year later, a threat actor known as USDoD started offering a database for sale, allegedly stolen from National Public Data . This database, according to the crooks, contained sensitive information on roughly 2.9 billion people, and led to the company facing numerous class-action lawsuits, as well as watchdog and regulator probes. No assets

That, together with the fact that it would have to cover the expenses of identity theft and credit monitoring services for everyone, forced the
company to file for bankruptcy.

"The debtor is likely liable through the application of various state laws to notify and pay for credit monitoring for hundreds of millions of potentially impacted individuals," it was said in the bankruptcy petition, filed by
Jerico Pictures (National Public Data owner entity). As the debtors schedules indicate, the enterprise cannot generate sufficient revenue to address the extensive potential liabilities, not to mention defend the lawsuits and support the investigations. The debtors insurance has declined coverage."

Bankruptcy wont help the victims much, either, since the company barely has any assets. An accounting document submitted with the bankruptcy filing, it was said that the company was owned and operated by a single individual - Salvatore Verini Jr, and owned two HP Pavilion desktop computers ($400), a ThinkPad laptop ($100), and five Dell servers ($2000). Furthermore, it has some $33,000 in a corporate checking account in New York. Its total assets
are roughly between $25,000 and $75,000.

Although, it made more than a million dollars last year.

Via The Register More from TechRadar Pro More cybersecurity firms could collapse soon, experts warn Here's a list of the best firewalls today These are the best endpoint protection tools right now



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/national-public-data-files-for-bankrupt cy-after-massive-data-breach-put-hundreds-of-millions-at-risk


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