Noticing a new type of security question popping up everywhere

I recently signed up for a new credit card and checking account as well as updating some information on old accounts and I've been getting a set of prompts (both over the phone when talking w/ customer service reps and online) from multiple different institutions that look like:

- Which of these cities has xyz family member lived or owned property in?

- Which of these universities have you attended in the past?

- Which of these cars have you been associated with in the past?

This isn't information that I've ever provided to any of these institutions, and the questions are all framed/styled similarly, so I'm assuming that there's some new third party security question provider in town. I'm very curious who they are, if they're mining data themselves or just buying it, and how they've become so seemingly prevalent so fast.

I've gotten extremely disillusioned about the privacy of my data recently, especially after finding out that my employer and many others are reporting my salary data to Equifax behind my back [1]. It's somewhat disappointing to see that we've reached the point where it's become socially acceptable for companies to know information about you that you've never given them. I feel like just a few years ago something like this would have resulted in public backlash, but no one seems to care at all anymore.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29834753