LexisNexis revealed during Congressional testimony that ten consumers who had their information inappropriately accessed had new e-mail accounts set up in their names, or were the victims of credit card fraud.
The announcement was the second in two days to expand on the scope of the firm’s data breach. On Tuesday, the company disclosed that more than data on 310,000 consumers had been compromised, up from the 30,000 it had previously reported. The firm said on Tuesday that none of those 30,000 individuals had complained of identity theft.
As for the additional 280,000, “We are in the process of reaching out to those individuals to put them in touch with identity theft counselors,” testified Kurt P. Sanford, president and CEO of U.S. corporate and federal markets for LexisNexis.
Sanford continued: “We are providing all individuals with a consolidated credit report and credit monitoring services. For those individuals who do become victims of fraud, we will provide counselors to help them clear their credit reports of any information relating to fraudulent activity. We are working with the US secret service and the Electronic Crimes Task Force in their investigation of these crimes.”
In February, LexisNexis first uncovered clues that unauthorized individuals had used passwords of legitimate customers to access personally identifying information, such as Social Security numbers and drivers’ license information.
Sanford made his remarks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on balancing privacy and commercial and government use of personal data.
