More than 153 million scanned driver's licenses have leaked onto the dark web, and investigators suspect a single ID verification vendor let it happen.
Digital scans of over 153 million driver's licenses turned up for sale on dark web forums. Investigators believe a Louisiana-based ID verification service may be the source, though that hasn't been confirmed. The FBI has opened an investigation into the leak's origin. No breakdown of the affected individuals or how the scans were obtained has yet been made public.
Driver's licenses aren't just photos - they're a bundle of identity data that unlocks bank accounts, credit applications, and government services. When a verification vendor leaks that data wholesale, the damage doesn't stay contained to one company's users; it ripples out to everyone who trusted the businesses that relied on that vendor to confirm who they were. That's the quiet risk of outsourcing identity checks: your exposure is only as good as your weakest subcontractor.
The FBI investigation is just getting started, so expect the actual source, and the actual scale of the damage, to look different by the time this is over.