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I rented a car, and within hours, my driver's license was for sale

ThinkingNews Desk · how this was written

The FBI has opened an investigation into the dark-web service Nexus, which is selling digital scans of more than 153 million U.S. and Canadian driver’s licenses obtained from a breach at identity-verification firm IDScan.net. The site offers searchable, high-resolution copies—including infrared and ultraviolet images—and claims to add roughly 500,000 new documents daily.

Written from all 4 reports below, not from any single one.

How it was reported

  1. TechMeme·
    The FBI is investigating a new ID theft service called Nexus, which claims to have digital scans of 153M+ drivers licenses from people in the US and Canada (Brian Krebs/Krebs on Security)

    The FBI has opened an investigation into Nexus, an identity-theft service that advertises digital scans of more than 153 million driver’s licenses belonging to individuals in the United States and Canada. Authorities are examining how the service obtained the data and assessing the scope of the breach.

  2. TechCrunch·
    It sure looks like hackers breached a major ID card verification service

    A dark-web site called Nexus launched this week and offers searchable access to more than 150 million U.S. and Canadian driver’s licenses and passports. It claims to add about 500,000 new documents daily from a major identity-verification company. Independent journalist Brian Krebs confirmed that his own license and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s photo appear in the database. Krebs identified the likely source as IDScan, a Louisiana-based verification service. The FBI’s New Orleans field office is investigating, and Nexus shut down shortly after the report.

  3. Ars Technica·
    I rented a car, and within hours, my driver's license was for sale

    A car rental employee scanned the narrator’s driver’s license, and within hours a high-resolution copy appeared for sale on the dark-web ID-theft service Nexus. The listing included front and back images plus infrared and ultraviolet scans, which could help counterfeit IDs pass hologram checks. Nexus also offered to sell other types of identification.

  4. Hacker News·
    Hackers Had a Live Feed of Every ID Verification Company Scanned for over a Year

    A breach at IDScan.net, a Louisiana-based identity-verification firm used by Hertz, FedEx, Target and numerous dispensaries, exposed more than 153 million scanned driver’s licenses from the United States and Canada, with an additional 400,000 records added on the day of disclosure. The data are now being sold on the dark web, prompting an FBI New Orleans field office investigation and highlighting the inherent privacy risks of age-verification systems.

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