Unemployment Breach Gets Personal Data And Aids Identity Theft During Pandemic
By: Jim Stickley and Tina Davis
July 23, 2020
One good look around will show you that during this coronavirus pandemic, opportunists are coming out of the woodwork. At a time when cybersecurity attacks are more prevalent than ever, hacking spikes are at historic levels. A significant part of that history includes stealing identities from unemployment claims. With more than 36 million Americans filing in just two months, it’s no surprise that pandemic unemployment fraud is part of this unprecedented time. In May, Deloitte Company, responsible for data systems and portals for processing pandemic unemployment claims, reported “a unique circumstance.” It was a data breach that resulted in thirty-six people viewing the unemployment details of filers in three states–Ohio, Illinois, and Colorado.
The breach timing coincides with those states reporting that unemployment claims were inadvertently being viewed by other people. The PII (personally identifiable information) on unemployment applications gives bad actors plenty of fuel for identity fraud. Deloitte reports the data stolen from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services includes thousands of home addresses and Social Security numbers. The company also believes the systems “were not hacked or externally breached.” They also said that “out of an abundance of caution” they are providing twelve months of free credit monitoring to those potentially impacted by the “circumstance.”
Deloitte claims they fixed the Ohio incident within an hour of being notified and then contacted those inadvertently given access to the data. But what happens when a security event remains undetected? There are steps to take before and after a data breach that can help mitigate the extent of damage to your identity. After a breach, always accept free credit monitoring if it’s offered. It’s always a good idea to regularly monitor your credit reports for any irregularities and report them to the credit bureau immediately. Viewing one every 4 months is a great routine that helps you keep on top of your credit report. If you are in a position to freeze your credit report, do so. Government legislation made it free to freeze and unfreeze it when needed.
It’s important to remember that credit monitoring doesn’t prevent your PII from being stolen, but it alerts you if something odd occurs. If you’re going to freeze your credit, make sure you are not going to need to access it to apply for a credit card, car loan, apply for a rental unit, and the like. If you do, unfreeze it temporarily to keep it safest.
Paying attention to your credit and taking immediate action is the best answer to unemployment identity fraud.