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
Related:
- Zacks Investment hit in data breach – 12 million users potentially at risk
February 14, 2025
A report by BleepingComputer cites a thread posted on an underground hacking forum claiming to have breached Zacks in June 2024, gaining sensitive information on 12 million people, including names, usernames, email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers. The forum thread contained a small sample, and an offer for the entire batch in exchange for a ...
- Spyware maker caught distributing malicious Android apps for years
February 13, 2025
Italian spyware maker SIO, known to sell its products to government customers, is behind a series of malicious Android apps that masquerade as WhatsApp and other popular apps but steal private data from a target’s device, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. Late last year, a security researcher shared three Android apps with TechCrunch, claiming they were likely ...
- Northern Ireland: Two people charged over alleged New IRA activity after PSNI data breach
February 13, 2025
Two men have appeared in court charged with terrorism offences linked to a major PSNI data breach. Brian Francis Cavlan, 49, from Coronation Park, Aughnacloy and Rory Martin Logan, 43, with an address given as HMP Maghaberry, appeared before court on Thursday. They were arrested on Tuesday as part of an ongoing police investigation into the ...
- Italian government denies Paragon has cut spyware contract
February 12, 2025
Italy denied on Wednesday that Israeli spyware maker Paragon had cut ties with Rome following allegations that the Italian government had illegally used its technology to hack the phones of critics instead of criminals. “Paragon has never suspended the service and has not terminated its contract,” the cabinet undersecretary for intelligence matters, Alfredo Mantovano, told reporters. ...
- Gambling firms are secretly sharing your data with Facebook
February 12, 2025
While you might think you’re hitting the jackpot, whether you’ve consented to it or not, online gambling sites are playing with your data. Users’ data, including details of webpages they visited and buttons they clicked, are being shared with Meta, Facebook’s parent company. The Observer reports that over 150 UK gambling websites have been extracting visitor ...
- 20 million OpenAI accounts offered for sale
February 7, 2025
A cybercriminal acting under the moniker “emirking” offered 20 million OpenAI user login credentials this week, sharing what appeared to be samples of the stolen data itself. A translation of the Russian statement by the poster says: “When I realized that OpenAI might have to verify accounts in bulk, I understood that my password wouldn’t stay ...

