Massive Data Breach hits more than 100 Million Americans

Researchers have discovered a huge data leak originating from background check firm MC2 Data, which apparently left a 2.2TB database online without a password, freely accessible to anyone on the internet.

These data is said to have included the private information of 106,316,633 US citizens, almost a third of the nation's population. As a background check company, MC2 Data held personally identifiable information on a range of people - including names, addresses, phone numbers, legal records, employment history, and more.

MC2 Data owns multiple background check sites including PrivateRecords.net, PrivateReports, PeopleSearcher, ThePeopleSearchers and PeopleSearchUSA.

The researchers suggest the leak was likely caused by human error, as it contained the information not just of those who had background checks performed, but also of over two million users who had subscribed to M2C Data services.