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Compiler Exactis Exposed Data on 340 Million U.S. individuals

There’s nothing like a good privacy breach to remind us why data privacy laws are needed. Computer security consultant Vinny Troia scanned the Internet for unprotected Elasticsearch databases and hit paydirt: 340 million records from marketing data compiler Exactis. It had lots of detailed information on U.S. consumers and business contacts, although nothing really sensitive like Social Security Number. This isn’t technically a “breach” since Exactis’ security wasn’t penetrated. They just didn’t have any.