Block Buster: How A Private Intelligence Platform Leaked 48 Million Personal Data Records

Nearly 50 million records of comprehensive personal data from a storage repository belonging to Washington-based data search service LocalBlox were left exposed to the public. Acquired through data scraping, the data held individuals’ names, addresses, birth dates, LinkedIn and Facebook data, Twitter handles and other identifying markers located from diverse sources, and provided comprehensive profiles. Information was potentially being gathered to form a blueprint for targeted persuasion through content. LocalBlox, co-founded by Ashfaq Rahman, secured the exposure on 28 February 2018.