By Ambuj Kumar

Ever since the massive National Public Data (NPD) breach was disclosed a few weeks ago, news sources have reported an increased interest in online credit bureaus, and there has been an apparent upswing in onboarding of new subscribers.

Related: Class-action lawsuits pile up in wake of NPD hack

So what’s the connection? NPD reported the exposure of over 2.7 billion records. The breach was initially caused by a third-party malicious actor who infiltrated NPD’s systems in December 2023.

The data began leaking in April 2024, and by summer, it was being sold on the dark web for $3.5 million. The stolen information included full names, Social Security numbers, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of millions of U.S., Canadian, and British citizens.

While NPD claimed that around 1.3 million individuals were directly affected, analysts like Troy Hunt found evidence of much wider exposure, including 134 million unique email addresses and even criminal record data. Investigations are ongoing, and several class-action lawsuits have been filed, alleging that the company failed to implement sufficient security measures.

There is little doubt that high-profile breaches like this will persist. This drives public awareness of the risks associated with identity theft. As a result, many people rush to protect themselves by subscribing to services that offer credit monitoring, identity theft protection, and fraud alerts.