3 Million Social Security Numbers Hacked in South Carolina

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While most of the east coast is preparing to wage an epic battle with Sandy, residents of South Carolina have very different problems on their hands.

An anonymous hacker has stolen more than three million social security numbers and 387,000 credit, and debit card numbers from residents of the state.

Anyone having filed a tax return since 1998 is vulnerable to having had their information stolen, and makes for the biggest breach of security of this kind in the United States.

“The number of records breached requires an unprecedented, large scale response by the department of revenue, the State of South Carolina and all our citizens,” Governor Nikki Haley said in a statement.

“We are taking immediate steps to protect the taxpayers of South Carolina, including providing one year of credit monitoring and identity protection to those affected.”

The hacker began staling information in August, continuing to access the data for two months, before it was caught on October 20^th. By then however, the damage had already been done and the largest hack in the US had taken place.

No info has been released yet regarding whom the hacker affiliated themselves with or what their intentions were.

Image Credit: Getty Images