Hack of major data brokers weakens bank authentication

The reported hack of major consumer and business data aggregators has intensified doubts of the reliability of knowledge-based authentication widely used in the financial services industry, analysts say.

The computer systems of LexisNexis, Dun & Bradstreet and Kroll Background America were hacked by an underground identity theft service that sells social security numbers, birth records, credit and background reports on millions of Americans, Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post reporter and author of the KrebsonSecurity blog reported on Wednesday. Krebs uncovered the hack following a seven-month investigation of the criminal site ssndob[dot]ms.

The hack is significant because of the wealth of personally identifiable information (PII) collected by the three companies.

SOURCE: csoonline.com