The private financial information of several celebrities and politicians was made public on the Internet by Russian hackers Monday.
The Social Security numbers, addresses, credit reports of first lady Michelle Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin were posted to a website bearing a suffix from the former Soviet Union — .su.
Holder — whose report was accessed on March 8 — listed nothing in collections. Two of his accounts were deemed as having a potentially negative impact on his credit rating: an American Honda Finance account and a Wachovia/Southtrust Bank account, both paid and closed.”
Similar information for Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Ashton Kutcher, Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears was also posted.
The records also showed that Jay-Z has an outstanding Cox cable bill for $892 that has been turned over to collections.
Paris Hilton, however, has been deemed as a very low risk by the credit score company Experian — even though she “may have missed one or more payments” on a now-closed Bank of America card.
Her information, the document states, was printed on March 10.
Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden were also among the affected, although their credit reports were not included in the disclosed information.
While the way in which the private financial information was obtained is unclear, Gawker noted, that much of the information posted to the website was “available in the public record.”
“While government officials often have to disclose details on their finances — and celebrity divorces sometimes feature public financial data — the information posted online exceeds those disclosures”, said NY Daily News.
The FBI is investigating how FBI Director Robert Mueller’s information — including his Social Security number, address and credit report with his account numbers — ended up on the site, TMZ reported Monday. The agency told the New York Daily News, however, that it would neither confirm nor deny an investigation.
The same information for Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck’s was also on the site; the LAPD is the also investigating the manner.
Monday’s incident is the latest high-profile hack against politicians. The personal emails and photographs of the Bush family were exposed by a hacker in early February, prompting the Secret Service to investigate the incident.