Confidential data from 123 million households was left exposed on a server. Upguard, a cyber-security firm, discovered the leak. The data, from Alteryx, a marketing and analytics company, belonged to the credit reporting agency Experian and the 2010 US Census. The census data is already public, but the other data is a mix of public and confidential information.
While names aren’t included, home addresses, information about mortgages, the number of people in your household, your interests, recent purchases, religious affiliations, property value, and other personally identifying data is included. This information can be used by identity thieves and by scammers to target consumers.
Upguard discovered the security flaw all the way back in October. Anyone (and there are more than a mission of them) with an Amazon Web Services account could have gained access to the data. Signing up for AWS is as easy as supplying an e-mail address and signing up.
There’s not much consumers can do, other than be aware that this type of information could make you a prime target for scammers. So be extra-cautious and keep a close eye out for any suspicious activity with your bank account. This type of data is often used for fraudulent debt collection. You can learn more about the type of data that was exposed at Upguard’s site. Click here to read about it.
301moved permanently is what I get when I try to share on Facebook. What’s up?
I’m not sure. The links seem to work, but FB doesn’t label properly. It may be a WordPress issue. I have a ticket in.