What Is a Data Broker?


A data broker (also known as an information product company) is an organization that makes money by collecting your personal information, analyzing it, and licensing it out to be used by other companies for things like marketing purposes.

Data providers gather data from many different sources to create a profile of who you are. This profile includes things like your interests, hobbies, demographics, and even the products you use. Generally, data broker companies only deal with customers to collect information. A few of the top data brokerage companies are Epsilon, Acxiom, and Experian, but there are many data brokerages worldwide that make a hefty profit from aggregating and distributing consumers’ personal data.

Read more…
Source: McAfee


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • The Strategic Importance of Digital Sovereignty in 2026

    May 18, 2026

    Digital sovereignty has become a priority as concerns over data privacy, data protection, and geopolitical risk intensify. The concept centres on giving data owners full control over their digital assets, infrastructure, and the legal frameworks governing them. While Europe leads demand for sovereign solutions, interest is rising globally as cyberthreats and geopolitical tensions grow. In 2026, ...

  • A hotel check-in system left a million passports and driver’s licenses open for anyone to see

    May 15, 2026

    A hotel check-in system left more than 1 million customer passports, driver’s licenses, and selfie verification photos to the open web after a security lapse. The data is now offline after TechCrunch alerted the company responsible. The hotel check-in system, called Tabiq, is maintained by the Japan-based tech startup Reqrea. According to its website, Tabiq is used in ...

  • Stolen Canvas data was “returned” after hacker agreement, Instructure says

    May 12, 2026

    The Instructure/Canvas data breach that has dominated cybersecurity coverage recently has reached a new stage. Millions of students had personal data stolen, with extortion group ShinyHunters claiming credit for the data breach and applying extra pressure for their ransom demands by bothering Canvas users directly. Which seems to have paid off. On the Instructure web page about the recent ...

  • Water company’s leaky security earns near-£1M fine

    May 11, 2026

    The UK’s data protection watchdog has fined South Staffordshire Water’s parent company nearly £1 million over security failings exposed by the Cl0p ransomware attack in 2022. Issuing the fine of £963,900 ($1.3 million), the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the attack exposed “significant failures in the company’s approach to data security.” The attack, claimed by Cl0p, was detected ...

  • Canvas maker Instructure reveals data breach — confirms user personal information leaked

    May 5, 2026

    Instructure, the edtech giant behind the popular Canvas learning system, has confirmed suffering a cyberattack and losing sensitive customer data. The company issued a brief statement, confirming the hit, “While our investigation continues alongside our outside forensics experts, at this stage we believe the incident has been contained,” the notice reads. Instructure said the crooks accessed ...

  • How ChatGPT conversations became ‘a treasure trove’ of evidence in criminal investigations

    May 2, 2026

    Days before two University of South Florida graduate students went missing last month, a roommate of one of the students allegedly asked the AI chatbot ChatGPT an unusual question. “What happens if a human has a put (sic) in a black garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster,” Hisham Abugharbieh asked on April 13, according to ...