National Public Data Files For Bankruptcy Months After Data Breach Involving 3 Billion People Reported

Data brokerage National Public Data has filed for bankruptcy months after admitting that "hundreds of millions" of people were affected in one of the largest data breaches in history, according to The Register.

The bankruptcy petition states: "The debtor is likely liable through the application of various state laws to notify and pay for credit monitoring for hundreds of millions of potentially impacted individuals." 

"As the debtor’s schedules indicate, the enterprise cannot generate sufficient revenue to address the extensive potential liabilities, not to mention defend the lawsuits and support the investigations. The debtor’s insurance has declined coverage," it continues. 

The Register reported that the organization faces over a dozen class-action lawsuits due to data loss and potential regulatory challenges from the FTC and more than 20 U.S. states. However, plaintiffs may struggle to collect damages, as Jerico has limited physical assets.

Owner Salvatore Verini, Jr. ran the business from his home office with two $200 HP desktops, a $100 ThinkPad, and five Dell servers worth about $2,000. The company has $33,105 in a New York account, despite generating $1.15M last year, with total assets estimated between $25,000 and $75,000, the report says. 

Recall back in August we wrote about the data theft, calling it one of the "biggest data breaches ever". 

Then, a lawsuit alleged 2.9 billion people had confidential data exposed and stolen, according to a report from Mashable.The worst part is that those impacted by this cyberattack may be unaware of their involvement since National Public Data allegedly collects data from non-public sources without consent.

The breach exposed information on nearly 3 billion people, including full names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and personal details of both living and deceased relatives.The Mashable report said the timing of the breach was unclear.

Plaintiff Christopher Hofmann learned of it in July when an identity theft protection service alerted him that his data had been leaked on the dark web. The hackers posted the "National Public Data" database on a dark web forum in April, seeking $3.5 million from a buyer.