A Florida-based data vendor, which previously mislaid millions of Social Security numbers and other sensitive personal information in a data breach this year, has sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid a surge of lawsuits.
The parent company of hacked data broker Nationwide Public Knowledge, Jericho Footage, is highly unlikely to possess the financial wherewithal to settle its outstanding debts or confront anticipated liabilities and class-action lawsuits, not to mention providing credit score monitoring services for potentially hundreds of thousands of individuals affected.
Salvatore Verini, owner of Jericho Footage, initially stated that his company is confronting significant uncertainty as it navigates regulatory hurdles posed by the Federal Trade Commission and over 20 states, which pose a threat of imposing civil penalties in response to potential data breaches.
Details about this chapter were presented.
Since last April, a notorious hacker notorious for peddling pilfered data has reportedly compromised the Nationwide Public Knowledge network, allegedly swiping billions of records and putting approximately 300 million individuals at risk.
According to the company’s website, the compromised data includes names, delivery dates, email and postal addresses, cellphone numbers, and Social Security numbers. Among the stolen data collected by information brokers were accurate records, many of which were linked to individuals who had long since passed away.
The corporation’s stolen database was found to contain approximately 270 million Social Security numbers in total, according to estimates from security researchers.
According to estimates, Verini placed a value of $1 million on the corporation’s illicitly obtained database containing Social Security numbers. The submission also details several databases owned by the corporation, but fails to provide corresponding valuation information. The datasets in question relate to individuals authorized by the Drug Enforcement Administration to prescribe controlled substances, those holding permits for concealed weapon possession, and databases housing publicly available information, including marriage records, divorce data, bankruptcy filings, and international financial sanctions, among other types of public records.
Given the depleted financial resources of the firm, it appears unlikely that any meaningful compensation will be forthcoming to those directly impacted by the lawsuits or enforcement actions.
The information dealer’s Chapter 11 filings disclosed that its insurance provider “denied coverage” after the data breach, and that the company possessed less than $75,000 in total assets. Significant portions of the corporation’s revenue were invested in bulk data acquisitions and compensation for Verini, who was the sole proprietor of the company. According to the requirements of the chapter, a total of $475,526 was submitted in 2022 and $865,149 throughout 2023.
