NEW ORLEANS — Those with a Louisiana ID, registration or driver's license could have their personal data exposed as a major cyber attack targeted the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles as well as other Government entities.
According to the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the OMV was breached. The state says MOVEit - which is a data transfer service used to send large files - was targeted by cyber attackers.
The OMV says all Louisianans with a state-issued driver's license, ID, or car registration have likely had their name, address, social security number, birth date, and driver's license number plus more data exposed to the cyber attackers.
Cyber security expert George Schiaffino says this is a huge problem.
"It's a concern because it's been stolen, somebody has it or it's somewhere else," he said. "All that information is on the dark web and may be for sale."
"Who has it? What are they going to do with it? Who are they going to sell it to? We don't know, but we do know our data is no longer private," Schiaffino said. "People applying for a loan, having your information, opening up a bank account, opening up a credit card, they basically have all the information to identify yourself."
The state recommends doing these things immediately:
- Freezing your credit.
- Changing passwords
- Protecting tax refunds and returns with the IRS
- Checking your social security benefits
- And reporting suspected identity theft
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