Jerico Pictures Inc., operating as National Public Data, released a statement last week acknowledging the massive data breach. The company confirmed that the stolen data included names, email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and mailing addresses.
The breach, which occurred in late December 2023, is believed to have exposed sensitive data through subsequent leaks in April and the summer of 2024.
NPD attributed the breach to a “third-party bad actor” and described the incident as a “data security incident” in its official statement on its website. The company emphasized that it has since conducted an investigation into the breach, but the damage has already been done.
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Since August 1, at least eight separate lawsuits have been filed against NPD, each alleging negligence and breaches of fiduciary duty. The first of these lawsuits was filed by Christopher Hoffman, a California resident, who claims that a cybercriminal group known as “USDoD” posted the stolen data on the dark web.
Hoffman’s lawsuit, which was first reported by Bloomberg Law, alleges that the group made the personal data of 2.9 billion people available for sale on the dark web, pricing the database at a staggering $3.5 million. The lawsuit further alleges that the hackers obtained data dating back at least three decades, including information about relatives and past addresses.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported:
According to the Times, the information stolen includes possibly every Social Security number in America and other sensitive data. News of the hack was discovered in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
USDoD previously put the personal data up for sale for $3.5 million according to the complaint.
Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog director for the U.S. Public Information Research Group told the LA Times in an interview that if USDoD is telling the truth, this hack is much more severe than previous ones affecting Americans.
“If this in fact is pretty much the whole dossier on all of us, it certainly is much more concerning,” Murray said. “And if people weren’t taking precautions in the past, which they should have been doing, this should be a five-alarm wake-up call for them.”
In response to the breach, NPD has urged affected individuals to closely monitor their financial accounts and report any unauthorized activity to their financial institutions immediately. The company also recommends that Social Security number holders contact the three major credit reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—to obtain a free credit report and place a fraud alert on their file.
According to NPD:
We strongly advise you to take preventive measures to help prevent and detect any misuse of your information. As a first step, we recommend that you closely monitor your financial accounts and if you see any unauthorized activity, you should promptly contact your financial institution.
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