The FBI has opened an investigation into an apparent breach involving identity verification provider IDScan.net after a newly launched dark web service began advertising access to more than 153 million U.S. and Canadian driver’s license records.
The service, named Nexus, appeared on the Russian cybercrime forum Exploit on August 31, claiming access to identity documents belonging to more than 170 million people across North America. Its advertised database includes more than 153 million driver’s licenses, over 10 million identification cards, more than three million travel or international identity documents, and at least 579,000 medical cards.
An examination of the service indicates that the claimed volume may be credible. A search without filters reportedly produced about 11.5 million pages of records, with approximately 15 results per page. Canadian licenses accounted for roughly 1.1 million results, including 473,673 records from Ontario, while most listings originated from the United States.
The dataset also contains marijuana dispensary cards, commercial driver’s licenses and records marked “CAC,” potentially referring to U.S. government Common Access Cards. Nexus operators claim the information is being obtained through an ongoing compromise of a major identity verification company serving Fortune 500 customers. They claim to have continuously extracted new records for more than a year.
Evidence examined by KrebsOnSecurity also indicates that the database may still be receiving stolen information. The number of available driver’s license records reportedly increased by nearly 400,000 within 24 hours.
The exposed records are unusually detailed. One license examined by Krebs contained six image files showing the front and back of the document, including standard, infrared and ultraviolet captures. Each file carried a timestamp. In several cases, those timestamps corresponded closely with victims’ real-world activities.
Krebs tested the apparent pattern by obtaining permission to search for licenses belonging to more than a dozen acquaintances. Nine licenses were located, and each individual confirmed travelling on or around the dates associated with the image timestamps. Further comparison with rental records indicated the timestamps appeared consistent with Greenwich Mean Time.
The evidence initially pointed toward airports, but that theory weakened because the database contained no passports and several individuals had not presented their licenses at airport security. Two federal employees who appeared in the dataset said they used other government identification at airport checkpoints, but later handed their state licenses to Hertz when renting vehicles.
A particularly revealing comparison involved Krebs’ own license and his mother’s. Their records carried timestamps only seconds apart, corresponding to the time both licenses were handed to a Hertz representative. Another exposed license belonged to security researcher Zach Edwards, whose timestamp matched a trip to Las Vegas for DEF CON. Edwards said he showed his license to TSA, his hotel and Planet 13, but identified the dispensary as the only location that definitely scanned it.
That connection is notable because Planet 13 announced in 2022 that it had deployed IDScan.net’s VeriScan technology across 16 check-in stations at its Las Vegas SuperStore. The system captures government-issued identification, performs document authentication and can use white-light, infrared and ultraviolet imagery. IDScan.net says its technology performs more than 21 million identity verifications each month across more than 20,000 locations.
IDScan.net also publicly lists major organizations using its technology, including Hertz, Target, FedEx and Caesars Entertainment. Its current platform supports ID scanning, document authentication, data parsing and integrations through APIs and software development kits.
IDScan.net told KrebsOnSecurity that it was investigating but had not provided a substantive public explanation of the suspected incident. Its documentation shows that its systems can retain raw files generated during scans, while its security documentation describes encryption for data at rest and in transit.
The FBI’s New Orleans field office subsequently opened an official investigation into the suspected breach. The development adds a law-enforcement dimension to an incident that could expose highly sensitive identity information at unprecedented scale.
The potential consequences extend beyond conventional credential theft. Driver’s license information is legally recognized as identifying information, and stolen identity data can be used to open accounts, obtain services, commit financial fraud or impersonate victims.
The incident also exposes a difficult security trade-off in modern identity verification. Organizations increasingly depend on third-party systems to scan government credentials for travel, rentals, retail, financial services and age verification. TSA began enforcing REAL ID requirements for domestic air travel in May 2025, further embedding government-issued identification into everyday verification processes.
For now, the precise intrusion path, affected customers and total number of compromised individuals remain unconfirmed. However, the combination of detailed document images, matching timestamps, apparent fresh data collection and the FBI investigation makes Nexus a serious warning about the risks created when sensitive identity documents are concentrated within third-party verification infrastructure.
