Hackers Access 32,000 Identities In LexisNexis Data
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Using stolen passwords from legitimate customers, intruders accessed personal information on as many as 32,000 American citizens in a database owned by the information broker LexisNexis, the company said.
The announcement yesterday comes on the heels of a series of similar high profile breaches, the most serious affecting another large data broker, ChoicePoint Inc. in which scores of identities were stolen.
The first in a series of Capitol Hill hearings are scheduled for today.
At LexisNexis, criminals found a way to compromise the log-ins and passwords of a handful of legitimate customers to get access to the database, Kurt Sanford, the company’s chief executive, told the Associated Press.
The FBI and the Secret Service are both investigating the breach.
The database that was compromised, called Accurint, sells reports for $4.50 each that include an individual’s Social Security number, past addresses, date of birth, and voter registration information, including party affiliation.
No credit history, medical records, or financial information were accessed in the breach, LexisNexis parent company Reed Elsevier Group PLC said in a statement. The Accurint database is part of the Seisint unit, which LexisNexis bought for $775 million in August.
