Exactis leaves open access to comprehensive database of 340 million records

In June 2018, security researcher Vinny Troia discovered that the Florida-based data broker Exactis had exposed a comprehensive database containing nearly 340 million individual records on a publicly accessible server. The 2TB of data appeared to include detailed information on millions of businesses as well as hundreds of millions of American adults that included as many as 400 highly personal characteristics, including number, age, and gender of children, as well as phone numbers and home and email addresses. It was not clear whether criminals or malicious hacker had accessed the database; Troia found it via the search tool Shodan, which scours the internet for connected devices. The company shut down access after it was notified.

https://www.wired.com/story/exactis-database-leak-340-million-records/amp

writer: Andy Greenberg

Publication: Wired