Contact details, vehicle registrations and postcodes were stolen in the breach that appears to have accessed databases containing wi-fi log in and car parking details.
The cyber-crime group - which the BBC is not naming - is offering the entire data set for free to other criminals or scammers through their website.
"Today we are releasing the Manchester Group database," they wrote.
"Half a terabyte, and every byte of it is pure PII [personally identifiable information]."
Yay...
What if my information has been taken?
Data watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office has advice on its website for people whose data has been hacked. It includes:
- Report any details of stolen documents including passports, credit cards or driver's licences to the issuer
- Check your bank statement and credit report for any unusual activity
- Keep alert for any suspicious emails, messages or phone calls
- Use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication for online accounts
Right, because a strong password and 2FA will prevent other people from accessing the personal data that already got leaked...
500 sats to post in ~privacy?
Credit reporting seems like at least half the problem here. The fact that they take it upon themselves to link a scammer using stolen credentials to open an account in my name on the other side of the country to my credit is absurd. We've mostly forgotten about it now, but the Equifax data breach is still one of the largest leaks in US history and the advice for people who's data has been stolen is to...log in (and probably provide ever more information to) a service that has already leaked their information. It's just insane.
( ~privacy has been at 500 for a couple years. I often feel like I'm the only person who posts in it because of the posting fee. The upside is that all posts in ~privacy end up on the SN home page because the posting fee counts toward total item investment)