According to an exposé published this week by security researcher Brian Krebs, a significant data breach has made more than 153 million driver’s licenses available for sale on the dark web through a service identified as Nexus. The breach appears to be ongoing in real time, with new identification documents becoming available for purchase shortly after being scanned by businesses. The FBI is reportedly investigating the incident.
The driver’s licenses offered through Nexus include high-resolution scans capturing images in standard, infrared, and ultraviolet spectrums. Security experts suggest that the additional imaging formats could potentially enable counterfeiters to create fraudulent IDs capable of bypassing security features such as hologram verification. Beyond driver’s licenses, Nexus also advertised other identification documents, including commercial driver’s licenses, government-issued Common Access Cards, and marijuana dispensary cards.
Krebs identified a pattern suggesting that a third-party ID scanning service has been compromised and is providing real-time access to the scanned documents. The number of available driver’s licenses increased by approximately 400,000 over a 24-hour period, indicating the breach is active and ongoing. Public records indicate that IDScan.net, a New Orleans-based scanning company, operates scanning services for multiple businesses including Hertz and other companies, as well as Planet13, a multi-state marijuana dispensary chain.
The service claiming to offer the stolen identification data went offline within hours of the KrebsOnSecurity publication. While this development prevents verification of whether specific individuals’ documents are included in the breach, it has left affected parties unable to assess their exposure. An IDScan.net representative stated the company is investigating the matter, though full details remain limited as of the reporting date.
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