Emily Long is simply a freelance writer based successful Salt Lake City.
After graduating from Duke University, she spent respective years reporting connected the national workforce for Government Executive, a publication of Atlantic Media Company, successful Washington, D.C. She has astir a decade of acquisition arsenic a freelancer covering tech (including issues related to security, privacy, and streaming) arsenic good arsenic individual finance and travel.
In summation to Lifehacker, her activity has been featured connected Wirecutter, Tom’s Guide, and ZDNET. Emily has besides worked arsenic a recreation guideline astir the U.S. and arsenic a contented editor. She has a masters successful societal activity and is simply a licensed therapist successful Utah.
If you person a driver's licence successful the U.S aliases Canada, there's a beautiful bully chance that your information was precocious for waste connected the acheronian web. A monolithic hack astatine ID verification institution IDScan.net compromised records for much than 150 cardinal drivers, resulting successful scans of licenses being made disposable to bad actors. IDScan.net is simply a Louisiana-based institution that provides personality and property verification services for industries ranging from casinos and cannabis dispensaries to hotels and car rentals.
What happened pinch the IDScan.net breach?
According to an incident notice connected IDScan's website, the institution received accusation "on aliases around" Sept. 1 that an unauthorized 3rd statement was capable to summation entree to stored customer data, including afloat names on pinch driver's licence and government-issued ID numbers.
This was astir the clip that a awesome breach was reported by cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, who received a extremity that driver's licence information—including integer scans—was disposable for waste connected the acheronian web via an personality theft work dubbed Nexus. The level advertised entree to much than 153 cardinal driver's licenses, and Krebs and information interrogator Zach Edwards verified the data and identified IDScan arsenic the apt source. As TechCrunch reports, the FBI is investigating the breach, and the database has since been taken offline.
What to do if your drivers licence has been compromised
A mislaid aliases stolen driver's licence creates a precocious consequence of personality theft and fraud, arsenic hackers tin usage it to unfastened financial accounts and return retired loans successful your name, perpetrate message fraud, create a clone ID, and moreover develop a synthetic identity (which combines some existent and clone individual data) that could beryllium utilized to perpetrate a crime. If thieves person entree to your beingness licence aliases a scan, arsenic successful this latest breach, they person a complete group of information, including your commencement day and photo, to presume your identity. Fraudsters tin besides do a batch of harm pinch conscionable your driver's licence number.
If your driver's licence accusation has been compromised successful a breach, you should return each the usual steps against personality theft, including pulling your in installments reports, monitoring your financial accounts, and mounting up fraud alerts. (At this constituent successful the information breach game, your in installments should already beryllium stiff unless you are actively applying for a caller paper aliases loan, but if you haven't yet, do it immediately.)
Because your driver's licence is truthful valuable to personality thieves, Experian besides recommends requesting your driving record, which you tin get from your state's section of centrifugal vehicles, and moving a inheritance cheque connected yourself. Both tin uncover if immoderate fraudulent activities person been carried retired successful your name—for example, if personification has been pulled complete aliases if location are apprehension warrants aliases criminal charges linked to your identity. You tin record a constabulary study for a mislaid aliases stolen licence and study personality theft if you judge your accusation is being utilized fraudulently.
IDScan.net is reportedly alerting individuals affected by this latest breach, and fixed its scale, you should beryllium connected the lookout for a notice. The institution is offering in installments monitoring and personality protection services to those impacted, and you tin telephone 1-833-516-2980 to enroll.
Emily Long is simply a freelance writer based successful Salt Lake City.
