A massive database containing 153 million US and Canadian driver’s licenses recently appeared for sale on a Russian cybercrime forum. This breach, which circulated on the forum known as Exploit, included a staggering range of identity documents. Beyond the millions of driver’s licenses, the cache reportedly held 10 million ID cards, 1.9 million travel documents, and hundreds of thousands of medical and access cards, according to cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs.
The breach came to light after Krebs discovered the service, dubbed Nexus, while monitoring the forum. To prove the legitimacy of the data, the hackers posted Krebs’ own driver’s license as a free sample. The situation grew even more serious when he discovered that the database contained the personal information of U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Krebs confirmed the data was real after verifying details for friends and family members who consented to the search.
