Big-three consumer credit bureau Experian just fixed a weakness with a partner website that let anyone look up the credit score of tens of millions of Americans just by supplying their name and mailing address, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Experian says it has plugged the data leak, but the researcher who reported the finding says he fears the same weakness may be present at countless other lending websites that work with the credit bureau.
Bill Demirkapi, an independent security researcher who’s currently a sophomore at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said he discovered the data exposure while shopping around for student loan vendors online.
Demirkapi encountered one lender’s site that offered to check his loan eligibility by entering his name, address and date of birth. Peering at the code behind this lookup page, he was able to see it invoked an Experian Application Programming Interface or API — a capability that allows lenders to automate queries for FICO credit scores from the credit bureau. read more
I’m more concerned with becoming one of By-dens political prisoners on trumped up bs.
Never trust anyone with your data. If you haven’t already, have your credit report (from all bureaus) frozen. Best thing I have done to protect others from ripping me off.
Oh Noooooooooeeeeeeeeeessssssss!
Does this mean I won’t get that $2 loan to buy a Lottery Ticket?
izlamo delenda est …
Having your credit frozen prevents you from borrowing, Everyone can till see your rating.
Do not have a user account with these credit businesses.
Went to get gas this morning and my debit card was denied. Went to the bank to find someone had tried to make a purchase that was flagged as suspicious. Makes me wonder if there is more to this story?
If anyone thinks this was an accident, forget it. This is in preparation for ‘social credit’ scoring.
The Social Security Administration contracts with Experian. Whenever you establish a MySSA account with SSA, they use Experian to screen you for data that only you should know. Questions like what color was your 1998 Pontiac? Which of these 4 addresses did you live at in 2005? Which of these 4 companies holds your mortgage? Good to know that they are as secure as Ft. Knox.