SmartStart Employment Screening smartstartinc.com SmartStart Employment Screening data breach: what happened and what to do
SmartStart Employment Screening, a background check company, reported a data breach affecting 75,103 people in total. Its server was breached, with activity dated May 13, 2020 and found on December 18, 2020. Names and driver's license or ID numbers were exposed.
View all 13,177 breaches- Breach date
- 13 May 2020
- Affected
- 75,103
- Data exposed
- Names, Driver's licenses
- Last updated
Reviewed by Anthon Wansland
Head of Product & Co-Founder
Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.
What happened
SmartStart Employment Screening runs background checks for employers, so it holds details about job applicants. The Maine Attorney General's filing dates the breach to May 13, 2020 and lists 75,103 people affected in total, with 123 in Maine. California and Washington also list the notice, and Washington counts 639 of its own residents, which is a single state's share and not the total.
SmartStart said it noticed suspicious activity on its server on December 18, 2020. A data review finished on August 4, 2021, and letters went out around August 24, 2021. The delay between the intrusion and the letters was more than a year.
Sources checked: maine.gov, consumer.sc.gov, caseygerry.com
Last verified against the official page:
What was exposed
A law firm's summary of the notice lists names and driver's license or state ID numbers. A version of the letter for people whose Social Security numbers were involved was also filed with Maine. Your letter lists what applied to you.
Government ID numbers are useful for identity fraud, and employment data makes scam messages about jobs sound legitimate.
The company's response
SmartStart offered 12 months of identity monitoring through IDX, including credit monitoring, a $1 million identity theft insurance policy and recovery help. Enrolment had to be done by November 24, 2021.
What to do if you were in it
- 1
Freeze your credit at all three bureaus
A credit freeze is free and stops lenders from opening new accounts in your name. Place one at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, as the FTC explains. Do this even if your letter only lists a driver's license number.
- 2
Check your credit reports
Get your free reports at annualcreditreport.com and look for accounts you didn't open. Report problems at IdentityTheft.gov.
- 3
Be wary of messages that mention the breach
Scammers use real details to sound credible. Don't click links or call numbers in unexpected texts, emails or calls about job offers, background checks or the breach. Go to the organization's own website instead. If you spot a scam, report it at IdentityTheft.gov.
- 4
Check whether your email or phone is in other breaches
Serus monitors breach databases and the dark web and alerts you when your details show up. Run a free scan to see where you stand. Our guide to what to do after a data breach covers the rest.
Official filings
- Washington Attorney General , filed 24 Aug 2021 : 639 people
Timeline
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The breach happened
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Reported to the Washington Attorney General
Frequently asked
Who was affected by the SmartStart breach?
Maine's filing lists 75,103 people in total. People whose details sat with SmartStart as part of an employer background check received letters in August 2021.
Why did I get a letter from a company I never dealt with?
Employers use screening companies. SmartStart held your details because an employer or recruiter ran a background check, not because you signed up.
Can I still enrol in the free monitoring?
The enrolment deadline in the notice was November 24, 2021. Call the number in your letter to ask whether any help is still available.
Sources
- maine.gov/agviewer/content/ag/985235c7-cb95-4be2-8792-a1252b4f8318/a631d297-bcb1-4edc-ad76-cfc3c939fc9c.shtml
- consumer.sc.gov/sites/consumer/files/Documents/Business%20Resources%20Laws/Related%20Laws/Breaches/2021/SmartStart.pdf
- caseygerry.com/blog/smartstart-employment-screening-data-breach/
- atg.wa.gov/data-breach-notifications
- consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2022/10/have-you-been-affected-data-breach-read
- consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-credit-freezes-and-fraud-alerts
- identitytheft.gov/databreach
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