Over 140 million Americans awoke this summer to some very scary news. Equifax credit reporting agency experienced an unthinkable hack, exposing incredibly sensitive information for millions of customers. Names, addresses, Social Security, credit card, and driver’s license numbers were compromised in one of the worst hacks imaginable. The security giant’s data was breached during mid-May through July of this year and was discovered on July 29. An earlier attack in March was not widely reported, but the company alerted the thousands of unsuspecting victims.
Just why the breach happened is up for grabs. However, Dan Guido, CEO of cybersecurity firm Trail of Bits, believes “People should be extraordinarily angry at companies like Equifax. We place a huge amount of trust in them about money matters, but they’re so easily compromised by simplistic attacks like this one.” Many companies don’t know exactly how vulnerable they are to information theft until it’s too late, but should financial data giant Equifax be one of them? Since the breach, Equifax created measures for its customers to help recover from their stolen data.
Use Credit Monitoring Services
Equifax is now offering free credit monitoring for its customers, even those they claim are not affected by the breach. Also, review your reports from the other two credit services, Trans Union and Experian. Sign up for instant alerts to changes on reports from all three agencies, as well as for banking, credit card and other financial accounts.
Monitor Your Data
Continue being vigilant by checking bank, credit card and other financial records, ideally on a daily or weekly basis. Remember, hacked data isn’t always immediately used for theft. The possibility of using your information down the road is always an option for cyber thieves.
Set up Account Alerts wherever available. Use every Alert you can to ensure that all account activity is accurate and legitimate. Financial Institution offer Alert Services free of charge so take advantage of the information if you haven't already.
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Monitoring your accounts is an effective tool, however applying a credit freeze immediately prevents further damage. Hackers are halted from using your data to open bogus credit and other accounts in your name. Although a credit freeze may be an instant cure, it presents obstacles to opening your own new accounts. Be aware of the option to unfreeze and refreeze your credit when needed and check the lead time for unfreezing so you can be prepared.
For banks and credit unions
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