Note, this content is USA centric:
Identity thieves have been exploiting a glaring security weakness in the website of Experian, one of the big three consumer credit reporting bureaus. Normally, Experian requires that those seeking a copy of their credit report successfully answer several multiple choice questions about their financial history. But until the end of 2022, Experian's website allowed anyone to bypass these questions and go straight to the consumer's report. All that was needed was the person's name, address, birthday and Social Security number.
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Identity Thieves Bypassed Experian Security to View Credit Reports
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Friday January 13, @01:38AM (1 child)
So they collect often erroneous information and claim it is yours, then gossip about it to anyone who will slip them a buck, facilitate fraud by failing to secure any of it, and then claim the frauds reflect your behavior.
Sounds like they shouldn't be allowed to exist anymore.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 13, @02:25AM
Who can prove that ANYONE slurping up personal information is actually telling the truth?
What if some unpleasant entity is paying MORE to have misinformation spread?
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday January 13, @04:39PM
Note they had a significant data breach in 2020.
https://infosecurity-magazine.com/news/experian-data-breach-24-million/ [infosecurity-magazine.com]
You are the product, to them you are cattle.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Sunday January 15, @07:41AM
Surely the existence of Experian is an offence against the GDPR?
This company should have been extinguished years ago. Its sole purpose is to obtain your personal private data and sell it to anyone who wants it.
The fact that they leak it to anyone with a modicum of computing skills is a minor issue. The people who intend to exploit it maliciously may or may not
prefer to pay "legitimate"* sources for the data. Its your data, and it is being sold on the open market as well as some dubious "dark web" places.
* See Simpsons for details of "The legitimate businessmen's club"
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!