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Personal data from the massive Equifax breach could be up for sale on the dark web

Includes credit scores for Pres. Trump, Kardashian
Posted at 10:30 PM, Sep 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-16 00:30:59-04

DENVER -- The fallout continues from one of the biggest security breaches in U.S. history. More than 140 million Americans were put at risk after Equifax was hacked, and now security experts say what appears to be personal data from the breach is being sold on the dark web.

The "dark web" is a shady part of the internet where crime is rampant, and almost anything is illegally sold. It is only accessible through special software.

"You can anonymously order things, and anonymously pay for things," said security expert and Metro State Professor, Steve Beaty. "Drugs and weapons and many, many other things." 

Including now what appears to be stolen data from the Equifax breach.

A group calling itself "Equihax" posted an anonymous site on the dark web and are selling a million records for four bitcoins or more than $17,000.

"This one appears to be from the folks who actually did it," said Beaty.

He said to try and prove they're legit, the site claims to have leaked high-profile personal information starting with President Donald Trump, whose Social Security number Denver7 redacted.

"I can't say that this is his Social Security number for sure," explained Beaty. "He does have a nice credit score of 819."

Also, included in the sample data is Kim Kardashian and billionaire Bill Gates.

"Her credit score here is 643," said Beaty, while looking at the information on the website. 

Bill Gates' credit score, the hackers claim, is 748. The hackers also uploaded screenshots, allegedly from inside Equifax's internal computers. 

"People are excellent at putting together fakes, so I'm not going to say that this is not a fake. But all the data are here, all of the pictures that they show of the screen captures, all of the methods that they used -- it all does hang fairly well together," said Beaty. 

Real or not, if the hackers plan to sell any of the stolen data, Beaty said the dark web is where they'll do it.

"That's where they will make their money if they make their money," he said. 

Denver7 has no way to verify the information is legit. 

Other fake sites have already been taken down from the dark web.