153 Million Driver’s Licenses For Sale On Dark Web As FBI Investigates
By CU Today Staff —
NEW ORLEANS—The FBI is investigating a dark web identity theft service that claimed to be selling more than 153 million U.S. and Canadian driver’s license records, including sophisticated infrared and ultraviolet images used by identity verification systems to detect fraudulent IDs.
The illicit service, called Nexus, disappeared shortly after cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs exposed it Sept. 1.
Nexus claimed to possess more than 153 million driver’s license records, 10 million other identification cards, more than 3 million travel or international identification documents and at least 579,000 medical cards. Krebs found roughly 11.5 million pages of search results and located licenses belonging to nine of more than a dozen friends and relatives he checked, lending credibility to the trove, although the 153 million figure remains the criminals’ claim and does not necessarily represent that many unique individuals.
Krebs traced multiple records to scans apparently processed by New Orleans-based identity verification provider IDScan.net, including timestamps that matched occasions when individuals had presented their IDs at businesses using the company's technology. Some records contained standard, infrared and ultraviolet images of licenses — images generated by authentication hardware to examine security features that can help banks and other businesses distinguish genuine documents from counterfeits. IDScan.net said it was investigating, but has not publicly confirmed that its systems were breached or established the number of people affected.
The FBI's New Orleans office confirmed it is examining the incident but declined to provide additional details because the investigation is continuing. Krebs reported that nearly 400,000 additional records appeared on Nexus during one 24-hour period, suggesting the service may have been receiving newly obtained ID images before it went offline. IDScan.net provides identity verification technology to businesses across multiple industries.
Originally reported by CU Today.