Following the Equifax data breach, information on 143 million Americans has been sold
Glen Weinberg //September 24, 2017//
Following the Equifax data breach, information on 143 million Americans has been sold
Glen Weinberg //September 24, 2017//
After getting out of bed this morning, it was tough learning that I, Glen Weinberg, was worth roughly the price of two Starbucks coffees. Not that it made me feel any better, but so are you. Unfortunately, we are in good company with roughly 143 million other Americans whose information was compromised.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, an underground hacker market is selling full files: “dossiers that provide enough financial, geographic and biographical information on a victim to facilitate identity theft or other impersonation-based fraud” for as little as $10 apiece.
I assume (unless you have been living under a rock) that you have by now heard of the large data breach that occurred at Equifax that compromised information on 143 million Americans. This is not your average data heist! If you weren’t aware the credit agencies have amassed data on most Americans including driver’s license numbers, addresses, cell phones, business information, etc … All of this information was just sold to someone for as little as $10.
More than likely your data was compromised and is now floating around the “dark web” waiting to be used by an unscrupulous criminal. Fortunately, there are a number of steps that can mitigate the fallout from the “sale”. But, time is of the essence; if you do not act quickly you are out of luck.
What do you need to do today? These are no-brainers that will save you’re a** if you were compromised.
Over the next few weeks (or sooner) you need to take additional steps. There are a number of different steps you can take to further protect yourself. Your solution will depend on how “secure” and/or inconvenienced you want to be in regard to your personal information. As a lender myself, I’ve seen the effects of identity thefts on credit, seen the fraud alerts, and debated what to do. Here are the options:
The FTC put out an article: credit freeze or fraud alert which is right for you which goes through the pros and cons of the various options.
What did I do and why? The laws of probability show that there is a 60 percent chance or greater that I was compromised (remember you have the same odds!) so I knew I had to do something. I debated for a while what the proper solution was. The two finalists for me were either extended fraud alert or credit freeze.
1. Extended Fraud Alert:
2. Credit Freeze:
After looking at the options, I chose to go with a credit freeze. Although a credit freeze is inconvenient and costs more, I chose the most secure solution. I was not confident that a fraud alert would stop someone from gaining credit in my name. A credit freeze was the only option that locked down my information so that it was exponentially harder for a criminal to exploit.
How can you do the same? It was fairly simple to do a credit freeze. It took me a little over an hour to set it up at the three credit bureaus. Make sure you store your PIN in a safe place since they will be needed to remove the freeze. A well-known consumer advocate in Atlanta did an extensive guide that walks you through the process of freezing your credit and removing the freeze when needed. Note that all the credit bureaus are having capacity issues as they are inundated with requests. Keep trying and eventually you will get it done.
I’m still amazed that I’m only worth $10 and so are you. Your actions, or lack thereof, can determine whether you are a victim. The steps above will help protect your accounts and mitigate the probability of becoming a victim. It is unbelievable that someone can basically ruin your credit in a matter of hours. Are you going to let a criminal take over your identity for $10?