Factual data breach: 2.5M accounts exposed
Severity: medium · Patch status: no-fix-needed · Since 2019-12-24
In March 2017, a file containing 8M rows of data allegedly sourced from data aggregator Factual was compiled and later exchanged on the premise it was a "breach". The data contained 2.5M unique email addresses alongside business names, addresses and phone numbers. After consultation with Factual, they advised the data was "publicly available information about businesses and other points of interest that Factual makes available on its website and to customers". Exposed data: email addresses, employers, phone numbers, physical addresses. The breach dates from Mar 22, 2017; Have I Been Pwned loaded it on Dec 24, 2019.
What to do
- If you had a Factual account, change its password and the password of any other account that reused it.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication wherever it is offered.
- Check whether your addresses are in this breach at https://haveibeenpwned.com.
- Expect targeted phishing that quotes the leaked details; verify any unexpected contact out of band.
Sources
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