National Public Data Collapses After Massive Social Security Number Breach

National Public Data (NPD), a Florida-based background-check and data-broker firm owned by Jerico Pictures, filed for bankruptcy and later shut down after a breach exposed an enormous cache of personal information, including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers. The company tied the incident to a December 2023 intrusion by a third-party actor, while outside reporting said a 277.1 GB dataset containing roughly 2.9 billion records was later offered on the dark web for $3.5 million and may have affected people in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.

The fallout quickly expanded beyond the initial disclosure. NPD had first indicated that about 1.3 million people were impacted, but bankruptcy filings said potential liabilities could extend to hundreds of millions of individuals, far beyond the company’s ability to fund notifications, credit monitoring, litigation, and investigations. More than a dozen class-action complaints were filed, regulators in over 20 US states and the FTC were cited as possible sources of scrutiny, and reporting also pointed to alleged exposure of back-end database passwords. Consumers were urged to freeze credit with the major bureaus and monitor for identity theft as the company’s insurance reportedly denied coverage and its operations unraveled.