The private information of almost one-third of the population of the United States has been leaked following a security lapse within a major corporation responsible for conducting background checks.
The affected company, MC2 Data, provides background check services. The company collects, organizes and analyzes data from a vast range of public sources, such as criminal records, employment histories, family data and contact details. (Related: Massive DATA BREACH exposes personal data of 700 million users of Microsoft-owned LinkedIn.)
MC2 Data and similar companies use the gathered information to make complete profiles that are used by employers, landlords and other entities who depend on them for decision-making and risk management.
MC2 Data owns multiple background check websites, including PrivateRecords.net, PrivateReports, PeopleSearcher, ThePeopleSearchers and PeopleSearchUSA.
Cyber News reported that the total number of people affected by the data breach is 106,316,633. MC2 is being accused of leaving a database with 2.2 terabytes worth of information without a password and readily accessible on the open web, raising serious concerns regarding the ability of MC2 Data to protect the privacy and safety of people it conducts background searches on.
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