LexisNexis Warns of Consumer Database Breaches

According to a blog entry on Washington Post’s web site, consumer data provider and skip-tracing firm Accurint has been the target of a concerted effort by hackers and identity thieves to extract information for illegal use.

In the “Security Fix” blog on WashingtonPost.com, computer security reporter Brian Krebs said yesterday that a reader had alerted him to a letter sent out by Accurint to consumers warning them that hackers had gained access to login information used by a law enforcement official that allowed the hackers to view an unknown number of consumer records.  The letter stated that the information in the records included data such as name, address, Social Security number, and possibly even driver’s license number.

LexisNexis, the parent company of Accurint, responded to Krebs with a statement confirming that an investigation was underway by law enforcement officials, and that the company could not comment further on the matter.  LexisNexis did not return a request for comment made by insideARM.com.

Krebs does let LexisNexis off the hook for culpability, as he notes that the firm employs an entire team dedicated to nothing more than monitoring records for fraud and misuse.  In fact, the story appears to intimate that it was not Accurint’s database that was breached, but rather it was the database of a law enforcement agency that stores the login information to the Accurint account that was hacked.