A dark web marketplace this week began selling digital copies of more than 153 million driver's licenses from people in the United States and Canada. Individuals whose licenses were available for sale told security researchers the images appear to have been obtained from an identity verification company based in Louisiana.
The FBI's New Orleans field office launched a formal inquiry into the source of the leaked images, according to the cybersecurity firm KrebsOnSecurity. The field office has not publicly commented on the investigation.
Identity verification companies collect and store driver's license images as part of their services to other businesses that need to confirm customer identity. The scale of the breach—affecting more than 153 million people in two countries—suggests a major source of such data has been compromised.
