Unprotected server exposed data on 80 million US households

A cloud server operated by Microsoft has been leaking the personal data of 80 million U.S. households including people's full names, physical addresses, and dates of birth.

A pair of Israeli security researchers say they discovered the unprotected database while working on a web mapping project with VPN review site vpnMentor. In addition to names and addresses, the 24GB database also stored coded information on people's gender, marital status, income levels, and whether they've been a homeowner.

Who owns the data on the server isn't known. However, the mysterious party decided to itemize all the information by household, instead of individuals. Each record was also accompanied by a "member_code" and "score" entry. Read more...