Security Challenge
Alert! You receive a notice about a data breach of a company or site you use. Your personal information that includes name, address, social security number and date of birth were compromised. What do you do? Well, don’t panic. Unfortunately, this is a common thing that happens when companies who store and process your personal information get hacked or breached. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to minimize the risk of your identity being stolen.
Recommendation
In the event of a data breach that impacts your personal information that could be used to steal your identity, most vendors will swiftly offer free identity protection for up to a year with one of the credit bureaus. Sign up for any protection offered. Below are some additional steps you should take and things to look out for:
- Freeze your credit at the three major credit bureau
- Experian
- https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
- Equifax
- https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/
- Transunion
- https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
- Stay vigilant - monitor your accounts and credit reports for suspicious activity
- Be suspicious - Don’t click on any suspicious links via email or give personal information away to unknown callers
- Go to haveibeenpwned.com and enter your email addresses to check for other accounts that may have been compromised.
- This site is a trusted source for finding your accounts that have been compromised. It is also recommended that you sign up to get notified of any future breaches.
- Update your password - Use a password manager like 1Password or Bitwarden to generate a strong password. Also, make sure you rotate your passwords on any sites that used that same passwords with strong and unique passwords.
Closing Thoughts
It’s important that you act quickly when data breaches occur to understand the risk and take steps to minimize the impact to you.
References
- https://haveibeenpwned.com/
- https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
- https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/
- https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze