In April 2024, a large trove of data made headlines as having exposed "3 billion people" due to a breach of the National Public Data background check service. The initial corpus of data released in the breach contained billions of rows of personal information, including US social security numbers. Further partial data sets were later released including extensive personal information and 134M unique email addresses, although the origin and accuracy of the data remains in question. This breach has been flagged as "unverified" and a full description of the incident is in the link above. // What happened in the , National Public Data, Breach?, DataBreach.com Team, · April 8th 2024, 8:00 pm EDT, ​In early 2024, National Public Data (NPD), a Florida-based data broker operating under Jerico Pictures, Inc., experienced a catastrophic data breach that compromised approximately 2.9 billion records. This breach, among the largest in history, exposed sensitive personal information of individuals across the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. NPD specialized in aggregating personal data for background checks and fraud prevention, collecting information from various sources, including public records and court documents. However, much of this data was reportedly gathered without individuals' consent, raising significant ethical and legal concerns. The breach came to light when a hacker group known as USDoD offered the stolen data for sale on the dark web in April 2024, pricing it at $3.5 million. The data included full names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, mailing and email addresses, phone numbers, and even historical data spanning over three decades.​ The hacker responsible, operating under the alias USDoD, was later identified as a 33-year-old Brazilian national. Brazil's Federal Police arrested him in October 2024 during "Operation Data Breach," which targeted individuals involved in high-profile cyberattacks, including breaches of the FBI's InfraGard portal and other international entities.​ The breach's impact was profound, with victims facing risks of identity theft, financial fraud, and long-term privacy violations. Many affected individuals were unaware that their data had been collected or compromised, as NPD delayed public acknowledgment of the breach until August 2024, following multiple class-action lawsuits. The company's failure to promptly notify victims or regulatory authorities exacerbated the situation, leading to widespread criticism and legal challenges.​ In response to the breach, cybersecurity experts recommended that individuals take proactive measures to protect their personal information. These included freezing credit reports with major bureaus, monitoring financial accounts for suspicious activity, enabling multi-factor authentication on online accounts, and staying vigilant against phishing scams exploiting leaked information.​ The legal and financial repercussions for NPD were severe. Facing over a dozen lawsuits and potential liabilities for credit monitoring services for millions of individuals, Jerico Pictures filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2024. By December, NPD ceased operations entirely, marking a dramatic end to the company's controversial data aggregation practices.