Get this! Over 80 million households have had vital information exposed because it was just sitting there on an unprotected cloud server where anyone could get to it.
Among the information shared with the world at large:
- Full names (both first and last) of the people living in the household
- Gender and marital status
- The date of birth and ages of people residing in the household
- The household income
- The full address of the residence
- The GPS location of the home
- Whether the house is owned or rented
The real kicker is that the researchers who stumbled across the unprotected cloud server aren’t even sure who the server belonged to.
The researchers who discovered the leak say it appears everyone in the database was over 40 and speculate it could be an insurance or healthcare database.
This isn’t a case of hacking. No one broke into the server. It was just not properly secured. The researchers have taken steps to notify to cloud storage provider who in turn notified the company who owns the data. Hopefully, they’ll be in touch with the people whose private information was exposed soon.
As always, keep an eye out for any suspicious emails or phone calls that claim to be from a bank, healthcare provider, or insurance company. Even if they seem to know a lot of personal details about you. Also, putting a freeze on your credit is a way to prevent crooks from stealing your ID and opening up fraudulent accounts.
Contact any or all of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to request a freeze on your account. account. If you request online or over the phone, they must complete the freeze with one business day. Make sure to request a freeze and not a lock. Locks have monthly fees.
Equifax
Equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services
800-685-1111
Experian
Experian.com/help
888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742)
Transunion
TransUnion.com/credit-help
888-909-8872