The FBI is investigating what could be one of the most devastating identity-data breaches ever uncovered in North America.
A newly launched dark-web service called “Nexus” claims to be selling actual digital scans of more than 153 million driver’s licenses belonging to people across the United States and Canada, according to cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, who first reported the incident.
This is not merely another database containing stolen names, email addresses, and passwords.
The criminals reportedly obtained digital images of government-issued identification documents, including front-and-back scans and, in some cases, the infrared and ultraviolet images used to authenticate them.
According to cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, the massive collection allegedly includes:
- More than 153 million driver’s licenses
- More than 10 million identification cards
- More than 3 million travel documents and international IDs
- At least 579,000 medical cards
The database reportedly contains the driver’s license of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, along with identification documents belonging to other high-ranking federal officials, including an assistant director of the FBI. According to the report, the hacker offered Hegseth’s driver’s license for $100.
Krebs discovered that his own Virginia driver’s license was also in the database after the criminals behind Nexus displayed it as a free sample while advertising their service on the Russian-language cybercrime forum Exploit.
Hellbound and Down 