FBI launches investigation after 153 million drivers licenses apparently leaked on Russian cybercrime forum

Date:
Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:55:00 +0000

Description:
Lousiana-based identity verification service IDScan identified as the target of a hack that leaked 153 million US drivers licenses.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter 153 million US driving licences have been leaked on a Russian cybercrime platform Among those apaprently discovered in the stolen data is US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth The FBI is now investigating the leak, which has been traced to an identity verification company A data leak of 153 million US drivers licenses is said
to have been shared on a Russian cybercrime forum, with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth among those leaked prompting an FBI investigation.

Security researcher Brian Krebs identified the leak which included his own data as originating from a hack of an identity verification service. Louisiana-based IDScan provided ID verification for various well-known companies, including FedEx and Hertz car hire. The data was shared on a Russian forum called Exploit, a long-established online community of cybercriminals. Following news of the leak, the identity theft service Nexus has apparently scrubbed its existence from the Dark Web. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Driving licenses and more It wasnt just US driving licenses that were found in the archive of recently-collected
personal data. Krebs investigation found that Nexus claimed other types of data, and found a further 1.1 million driving licenses from Canada.

Other identity documentation alleged to be in the leak include 10 million identification cards, three million travel documents and international IDs, and 579,000 medical cards. The data was available to browse, notes Krebs,
with Nexus providing details: Records are available to preview before
purchase with pertinent information redacted. Customer photos are displayed
if available. You may like Over 9 million facial recognition images leaked in major breach at reverse image search and identity verification service Insurance company AssuranceAmerica exposes 6.9 million drivers following
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The leak has a personal dimension for Krebs. Not only was his driving license in the collection, so was that of his mother. It has proved to be a useful coincidence, one that has enabled the security and privacy researcher to establish how the data was sourced by Nexus.

Both licenses were used for a car hire, which Krebs traced to Hertz. Others affected by the leak had also used the service, which has used New Orleans-based IDscan for identity verification. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

The company, which claims to perform 21 million verifications a month, is yet to issue a statement on the matter. Its marketing and operations leader, Jillian Kossman, told the journalist: At this point Im not able to share any additional information, but the updates you have provided have been welcome, and helpful to our teams investigation. Where is the data? Krebs reports that he was alerted to the data on August 31, 2026, little over a week ago.
Regular checking noted that the data was still being added to, increasing by nearly 400,000 records prior to publishing his investigation on September 1.

Since then, however, it seems that Nexus has vanished, along with the data. But how widely was the data downloaded before that happened? While the FBI investigates, it falls on the American and Canadian public to be extra vigilant and wary of identity fraud. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/fbi-launches-investigation-after-153-mi llion-drivers-licenses-apparently-leaked-on-russian-cybercrime-forum


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