Hacking group, USDoD claims to have 2.9 billion records of personal data from everyone in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

UNITED STATES — Public advocates fear a possible tsunami of identity theft could be coming after a hacking group claims it was able to steal nearly 3 billion personal records, including Social Security numbers. The theft happened in April, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It says the hacking group known as USDoD stole the records from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, private investigators and others who do background checks.

USDoD reportedly tried to sell the data for $3.5 million but has now posted most of it for free on an online exchange for stolen personal data. It claims to have 2.9 billion records containing personal data from everyone in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., though those populations add up to roughly 440 million... thehill.com