Sensitive Information of 134,000 Sailors Exposed in Data Breach

Another U.S. Government organization has been the victim of a data breach. Over 134,000 current and former U.S. Navy personnel had their data exposed in a breach when a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services contractor’s computer was compromised. The stolen information of the sailors included names and social security numbers.

This is just one more government office that has been victimized by those wishing to steal sensitive information. It joins the U.S. State Department, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), among several others.

There isn’t a lot of information available at the moment. A statement from the Navy has indicated that it is taking the incident very seriously and it is still under investigation. However, it will start notifying those affected and may offer credit-monitoring services.

If any types of identity or credit protection or monitoring services are offered to you as a result of a data breach, take advantage.  While these won’t prevent your identity from being stolen or charges to your payment cards being made, they will alert you should something be suspicious. If you do get an alert, be sure to check into it immediately.

For added protection, if you are not planning to acquire credit in the near term, consider freezing your credit with the major credit bureaus. This will prevent anyone from opening a credit account with your information. If you find you need to access your credit while it is frozen, it’s possible to lift the freeze, even temporarily. Just make sure you know the terms before signing up.

There are other options as well; such as requiring approval before your credit report can be accessed.

Be sure to monitor your credit carefully, even if you haven’t been a victim of a data breach. Every person in the U.S. with credit may access one free credit report annually from each of the three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. When requesting these, make sure you are accessing them through annualcreditreport.com. This is the only location from where you are guaranteed the free reports. If you are asked to enter your payment card number, stop and read the fine print before doing so. This may mean you are opting in to other services, which you are not required to do for your free reports.