FBI probes massive US driver's license data leak

Published September 3, 2026

A dark web service called Nexus is selling digital scans of more than 153 million driver's licenses and ID cards from people in the US and Canada. The images appear to come from a breach, an identity verification company whose scanners many businesses use to check customer IDs.

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What is known

The seller behind Nexus says it has been quietly pulling license images out of a breached identity verification system for over a year, and the front, back, infrared, and ultraviolet scans for sale carry timestamps that match when real people handed their ID to businesses like Hertz rental counters and Planet13 marijuana dispensaries, both of which use 's...

What to do

Watch for a breach notification or businesses that use it, and consider a credit freeze or fraud alert given driver's licenses are commonly used to open new lines of credit.

Reported details

A security reporter finds his own Virginia driver's license offered as a free sample in the seller's post advertising Nexus on a Russian cybercrime forum. The image's timestamp matches a June 2025 flight he took, and his mother's license, submitted at a Hertz counter at the same moment he checked in, shows up in Nexus seconds apart from his. Another researcher finds his own license in Nexus timestamped to a Las Vegas trip, matching the moment he handed his ID to a scanner at a marijuana dispensary that uses. Nexus also lists a US Defense Department official's license among the 153 million records for sale.

The seller, operating under the handle behind the 'Nexus' listing on the Exploit cybercrime forum, claims access to a business system belonging and has been exfiltrating records for over a year. Each record can include up to six image files per document: standard, infrared, and ultraviolet scans of both sides, complete with capture timestamps. The FBI's New Orleans field office opened a formal investigation into the source of the images on September 1, 2026. Shortly after the story broke, the Nexus site went offline with a message saying the service was no longer available.

References

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