Data broker says danger worse than thought

LONDON — Up to 10 times as many people as originally thought may have had their profiles stolen from a LexisNexis database in the United States, publisher and data broker Reed Elsevier Group PLC said Tuesday.

The company reported last month that criminals may have accessed personal details of 32,000 people via a breach of LexisNexis’ recently acquired Seisint unit. It now says that figure is closer to 310,000 people.

Reed said it had identified 59 incidents since January 2003 in which unauthorized persons, predominantly using IDs and passwords of legitimate Seisint customers, may have fraudulently acquired personal identifying information on those thousands of people.

Information accessed included names, addresses, Social Security and driver license numbers, but not credit history, medical records or financial information, the company said.

Reed spokesman Patrick Kerr said the company uncovered the first batch of breaches during a review and integration of Seisint’s systems shortly after it purchased the Boca Raton, Fla.-based unit for $775 million in August.