Inside the "3 billion people" national public data breach
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Re: Inside the "3 billion people" national public data breach
#2"there were no email addresses in the social security number files. If you find yourself in this data breach via HIBP, there's no evidence your SSN was leaked, and if you're in the same boat as me, the data next to your record may not even be correct. "
Seems like Troy is skeptical about this being a real full breach?
Re: Inside the "3 billion people" national public data breach
#3Troy mentions "data opt-out services. Every person who used some sort of data opt-out service was not present."
Anyone have experience with these sort of services? A search brings up a lot of scammy looking results. But if services exist to reduce my profile id be interested.
Re: Inside the "3 billion people" national public data breach
#4TL;DR:
> an intriguing story that doesn't require any further action.
Re: Inside the "3 billion people" national public data breach
#5Troy mentions "data opt-out services. Every person who used some sort of data opt-out service was not present." Anyone have experience with these sort of services? A search brings up a lot of scammy looking results. But if services exist to reduce my profile id be interested.
I have used (free trials) and currently use (discounted annual) a service called incogni. It's hard to really verify what's going on, but they at least show the brokers they are contacting on your behalf, and I've directly received confirmations from some.
Anecdotally, searching my name on Google pretty much no longer returns those scummy "People Finder" pages that just scrap any public records they can find.
That said, I hope incogni is happy enough with my money that they themselves don't do anything scummy.
Also, freeze your credit at the big three. do it now.
Re: Inside the "3 billion people" national public data breach
#6Troy mentions "data opt-out services. Every person who used some sort of data opt-out service was not present." Anyone have experience with these sort of services? A search brings up a lot of scammy looking results. But if services exist to reduce my profile id be interested.
I have used (free trials) and currently use (discounted annual) a service called incogni. It's hard to really verify what's going on, but they at least show the brokers they are contacting on your behalf, and I've directly received confirmations from some. Anecdotally, searching my name on Google pretty much no longer returns those scummy "People Finder" pages that just scrap any public records they can find. That sa…
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Re: Inside the "3 billion people" national public data breach
#7Troy mentions "data opt-out services. Every person who used some sort of data opt-out service was not present." Anyone have experience with these sort of services? A search brings up a lot of scammy looking results. But if services exist to reduce my profile id be interested.
> Anyone have experience with these sort of services?
Quite a bit. Often if you request removal or opt-out, you'll reappear in a matter of a few months in their system, regardless of whether you use a professional service as a proxy or do it yourself. The data brokers usually go out of their way to be annoying about it and will claim they can't do anything about you showing up in their aggregated sources later on. They'll never tell you what these sources are. A lot of them will share data with each other, stuff that's not public. It's entirely hostile and should be illegal. I am trying to craft a lawsuit angle at the moment but they feel totally unassailable.
I'm extremely skeptical of any services that claim they can guarantee 100% removal after any length of time of longer than 6 months. From my technical viewpoint and experience, it is very much an unsolved problem.
Re: Inside the "3 billion people" national public data breach
#8Troy mentions "data opt-out services. Every person who used some sort of data opt-out service was not present." Anyone have experience with these sort of services? A search brings up a lot of scammy looking results. But if services exist to reduce my profile id be interested.
If you're willing to tempt fait, the best way to 'opt-out' is to tell people, when they call asking to speak to 'your name', that 'your name' sadly passed away recently.
Re: Inside the "3 billion people" national public data breach
#9Time for services everywhere to stop using SSNs for identification and for the US to move on to a more advanced form of identification.
And lock your credit.
Re: Inside the "3 billion people" national public data breach
#10Does anyone else just not give a fuck at this point about their SSN? I feel like maybe early 00s this would be scary but it's clear that everyone's SSN is out there already or waiting to get breached from a shady private data broker.
The problem lies in how institutions treat the SSN, not the number itself.