Just recently, we learned more about the details of one of the biggest data breaches. This breach is especially important to those in the United States as it exposes social security numbers (SSNs), phone numbers, address, and other information on the dark web.

The infamous hacking group USDoD claimed they had broken into NationalPublicData.com, a company that provides background check services for companies across the country. While specific data counts are hard to nail down, it has been estimated to have affected 2.9 billion records. Besides identity theft monitoring services, the recommendation is to freeze your credit report if you’re affected.

Determining if You’re Affected

Determining if your personal information is exposed is actually pretty easy. Just to be clear though, you should NEVER input your SSN in any type of search tool online. There are two known tools that have been vetted and the tool on Pentester.com does not even ask for your SSN. You can get to the tool by visiting https://npd.pentester.com/search.

Beyond this particular search above, you can search for other information to see if it could have been exposed in other breaches at HaveIBeenPwned.com.

Data Breach Exposure Search

How to Freeze Your Credit Report

There is an FTC article explaining credit report freezing. You can freeze at each bureau by following the links below:

Each service allows you to unfreeze your account.