Data Enrichment Records breach: what happened and what to do
In December 2016 more than 200 million "data enrichment profiles" were found for sale on the darknet. Have I Been Pwned holds the 8,176,132 unique email addresses from it. The profiles also held credit ratings, home ownership and family details. Experian rejected the seller's claim that it was the source.
View all 13,115 breaches- Breach date
- 23 Dec 2016
- Affected
- 8,176,132
- Data exposed
- Buying preferences, Charitable donations, Credit status information, Dates of birth, Email addresses, Family structure, Financial investments, Home ownership statuses, Income levels, Job titles, Marital statuses, Names, Net worths, Phone numbers, Physical addresses, Political donations
- Verified
- Not verified
- Last updated
Source: Have I Been Pwned (CC BY 4.0)
What happened
In December 2016, more than 200 million "data enrichment profiles" were found for sale on the darknet. The seller claimed the data came from Experian. Experian rejected that claim. The data itself turned out to be legitimate, which suggests it was gathered from other real sources rather than one company's systems. Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) lists the incident as unverified.
What was exposed
The profiles held a wide range of personal attributes: buying preferences, charitable donations, credit status information, dates of birth, email addresses, family structure, financial investments, home ownership statuses, income levels, job titles, marital statuses, names, net worths, phone numbers, physical addresses and political donations.
HIBP received only the email addresses. It holds 8,176,132 unique ones, so the rest of the profile fields aren't searchable there. That doesn't mean the other fields went away.
What it means for you
This is less a hacked account than a marketing-style profile of a person: who you are, where you live, roughly what you earn and own. That combination is useful to scammers building a believable story, for example a call that already knows your address and income bracket. A date of birth plus an address helps with identity theft attempts.
The company's response
Experian rejected the seller's claim that the data came from it. HIBP links to CSO Online coverage of the listing. The original source of the data was never established.
What to do if you were in it
- 1
Treat unexpected emails that mention the breach with suspicion
Criminals use breach details to make scam emails look real. Don't click links in a message you didn't expect. Go to the company's site by typing the address yourself.
- 2
Be wary of calls that already know your details
Callers who quote your address, income or family can still be scammers. Don't confirm anything. Hang up and contact the organisation yourself through a number you look up.
- 3
Consider a credit freeze if you're in the US
Dates of birth and addresses can help someone open accounts in your name. A freeze is free and is placed separately at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
- 4
Check whether your email or phone is in this and other breaches
Serus runs a free scan that checks breach databases for your email address and phone number, and Serus monitors the dark web and breach databases and alerts you when your details turn up again. Breach data can't be taken back once it has leaked, so the scan tells you what to change, not what to delete.
Frequently asked
Was I affected by the Data Enrichment Records breach?
Have I Been Pwned holds 8,176,132 unique email addresses from it. Search yours there, or run a Serus free scan. The profiles themselves covered over 200 million people.
Did the data come from Experian?
The seller said so and Experian rejected the claim. The data was found to be legitimate, and its true source wasn't established.
What was exposed in the Data Enrichment Records breach?
Names, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses, credit status, income levels, net worths, home ownership, family structure, donations and other attributes, per Have I Been Pwned.
Sources
Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we'll re-check it.
