Pursuit of Hackers Who Stole Jay Z, Beyoncé and others’ Credit Reports Expands

WASHINGTON — The pursuit of hackers who audaciously stole and published credit reports for Michelle Obama, the attorney general, FBI director and other U.S. politicians and celebrities crisscrossed continents and included a San Francisco-based Internet company, Cloudflare, The Associated Press has learned.
The sensational crime caught the attention of Congress and President Barack Obama, who said "we should not be surprised."
Obama said he could not confirm that the first lady's credit report was published earlier this week on a Russian website, along with what appeared to be the credit reports of nearly two dozen others, including Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Donald Trump and celebrities Britney Spears, Jay Z, Beyonce and Tiger Woods.
Perhaps in a show of defiance as the FBI, Secret Service and the Los Angeles Police Department coordinated efforts to investigate the security breach, the website added late Wednesday what it said was the credit report of disgraced Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
If accurate as widely suspected, the leaked records put each victim at significant risk of identity theft. Included in the reports are Social Security numbers, dates of birth and a list of previous home addresses. The records also include such personal information as the first lady's monthly payments on a student loan 10 years ago and that she once held a Banana Republic credit card.
The president said determined hackers are a persistent threat.
"We should not be surprised that if you've got hackers who want to dig in and devote a lot of resources, that they can access people's private information," Obama told ABC News in an interview aired Wednesday. "It is a big problem.