DataBreaches.Net

Menu
  • About
  • Breach Notification Laws
  • Privacy Policy
  • Transparency Report
Menu

Thanks to Equifax breach, 4 US agencies don’t properly verify your data, GAO finds

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Dissent

Alfred Ng reports:

Multiple government agencies are relying on a security measure that can be easily bypassed thanks to massive breaches like the Equifax hack, the US Government Accountability Office has found. In a report released Friday, the government watchdog group found that the US Postal Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have still been using “Knowledge-Based Verification” to make sure people who apply for benefits online are authentic.

This verification method asked applicants questions like their date of birth, Social Security numbers and addresses, assuming that only the applicant would have that information. But in Equifax’s breach in 2017, that information had been stolen from 145.5 million Americans, rounding out to more than half the US population.

Read more on CNET.

Category: Commentaries and AnalysesOf NoteU.S.

Post navigation

← CO: Hit by ransomware, Estes Park Health decides to pay the ransom to get decryption keys
Australian Catholic University suffers data breach impacting the personal details of its staff →

Now more than ever

"Stand with Ukraine:" above raised hands. The illustration is in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine's flag.

Search

Browse by Categories

Recent Posts

  • How the Signal Knockoff App TeleMessage Got Hacked in 20 Minutes
  • Cocospy stalkerware apps go offline after data breach
  • Ex-NSA bad-guy hunter listened to Scattered Spider’s fake help-desk calls: ‘Those guys are good’
  • Former Sussex Police officer facing trial for rape charged with 18 further offences relating to computer misuse
  • Beach mansion, Benz and Bitcoin worth $4.5m seized from League of Legends hacker Shane Stephen Duffy
  • Fresno County fell victim to $1.6M phishing scam in 2020. One suspected has been arrested, another has been indicted.
  • Ransomware Attack on ADP Partner Exposes Broadcom Employee Data
  • Anne Arundel ransomware attack compromised confidential health data, county says
  • Australian national known as “DR32” sentenced in U.S. federal court
  • Alabama Man Sentenced to 14 Months in Connection with Securities and Exchange Commission X Hack that Spiked Bitcoin Prices

No, You Can’t Buy a Post or an Interview

This site does not accept sponsored posts or link-back arrangements. Inquiries about either are ignored.

And despite what some trolls may try to claim: DataBreaches has never accepted even one dime to interview or report on anyone. Nor will DataBreaches ever pay anyone for data or to interview them.

Want to Get Our RSS Feed?

Grab it here:

https://databreaches.net/feed/

RSS Recent Posts on PogoWasRight.org

  • Police secretly monitored New Orleans with facial recognition cameras
  • Cocospy stalkerware apps go offline after data breach
  • Drugmaker Regeneron to acquire 23andMe out of bankruptcy
  • Massachusetts Senate Committee Approves Robust Comprehensive Privacy Law
  • Montana Becomes First State to Close the Law Enforcement Data Broker Loophole
  • Privacy enforcement under Andrew Ferguson’s FTC
  • “We would be less confidential than Google” – Proton threatens to quit Switzerland over new surveillance law

Have a News Tip?

Email: Tips[at]DataBreaches.net

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Contact Me

Email: info[at]databreaches.net

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

DMCA Concern: dmca[at]databreaches.net
© 2009 – 2025 DataBreaches.net and DataBreaches LLC. All rights reserved.