Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne has initiated an investigation into IDScan.net following reports of a significant data breach affecting personal data and scans of approximately 153 million driver’s licenses. This inquiry comes after a bad actor reportedly accessed the company’s databases, raising concerns about the security measures in place at IDScan.net, which is widely utilized in the retail and hospitality sectors for ID verification.
According to reporting by The Record, the investigation will assess IDScan’s security practices and evaluate whether the notifications provided to affected individuals met the requirements of Canada’s federal private-sector privacy law. The breach was disclosed by IDScan.net on September 4, although the company did not specify the number of customers impacted. This announcement followed reports indicating that the compromised driver’s licenses were being sold on the dark web.
IDScan reportedly became aware of the breach around September 1, shortly after journalist Brian Krebs highlighted the availability of the stolen scans online. As of now, IDScan.net has not responded to requests for further comments regarding the incident. The investigation by the Privacy Commissioner is ongoing, and further developments are anticipated.
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