California's privacy regulators are asking courts to fine data brokers who lost hundreds of millions of Social Security in one of the biggest data breaches of last year.
The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), which enforces state regulations regarding California's data protection and privacy rights, known as the CCPA, has fined $46,000 for national public data because it cannot register as a state data broker. He said he wanted it. .
Following the April 2024 data breaches, public national data has resulted in hackers stealing the company's database containing social security numbers and other personal information, and involving around 300 million people's records. I later made a headline (although much of the data seemed inaccurate). Theft was one of the biggest data breaches of 2024 due to the number of stolen records.
The data broker filed for bankruptcy protection following the violation. This is because the company said there is no way to pay its debt. However, Florida's bankruptcy court rejected the company's petition in November 2024, leaving the door open for creditors and other authorities to launch legal action against data brokers.
The CPPA filed a request for national public data on Thursday, claiming its enforcement division failed to register with the agency as a data broker last year, and is now seeking a $46,000 fine from the company following a bankruptcy court ruling. I stated.
Data brokers collect and sell personal information about individuals, such as location data, for profit. Brokers operating in California had to register with the CPPA by January 31, 2024 or face a fine of up to $200 per day. According to the CPPA, national public data registered on September 18, 2024, more than seven months later, has been registered, and is only registered after the authorities contacted the company.
According to the CPPA, the country's actions on public data are the sixth enforcement effort against data brokers since its inception. The previous five actions ended in a settlement agreement, the agency said.
Salvatore Verini, owner of Jerico Pictures, the parent company of hacked data broker National Public Data, did not respond to requests for comment.