FBI probes report that data breach exposed millions of US driver's licenses

FBI probes report that data breach exposed millions of US driver's licenses

The FBI ‌says it ​is investigating a report that millions of American driver's licenses were exposed online.

On ‌Tuesday, the independent journalist Brian Krebs said he had discovered a dark web site selling digital scans of millions of driver's ‌licenses from people in the U.S. and Canada. ‌He said he confirmed the authenticity of the data being sold with nine people. In a brief statement issued on Wednesday, the bureau ⁠said it was “looking ​into the ⁠incident” but could not comment “due to the ongoing nature of the ⁠investigation.”

Krebs said he was alerted to the site after it ​was advertised on a Russian cybercrime forum, with his ⁠own driver's license being offered as a free sample. Krebs said the ⁠service, dubbed ​Nexus, claimed to have tens of millions of licenses for people in the U.S. and Canada, as ⁠well as millions of other identification cards and travel documents ⁠and hundreds ⁠of thousands of medical records. Krebs said the site vanished shortly after he published his investigation.

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