The Equifax Security Breach
“A huge security breach at credit reporting company Equifax has exposed sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers and addresses, of up to 143 million Americans” (CNN tech). A link to CNN tech article: http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/08/technology/equifax-hack-qa/ There are several tactics that an individual can do to help protect and monitor their credit and personal information. September 20, 2017
What can I do to protect my information?
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www.annualcreditreport.com is the government sponsored website that allows individuals to pull their credit reports at no charge once a year from all three of the credit monitoring companies – TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.
- Individuals can also place a “credit freeze” on their accounts that would require them to be notified and provide authentication for access or other notification service that may be offered by the individual agency. This type of action is done at the individual credit company level
www.transunion.com
www.experian.com
www.equifax.com
Each repository offers additional services to consumers; however, many of these services could have a fee associated with the request or activity.
Equifax has posted information on their website specific to the breach. Customers need to read and understand what they are agreeing to before enrolling or agreeing to a service.
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https://equifaxsecurity2017.com is a website established specifically for this event that will allow you to enter your name and get notification if you have been affected. If you learn that you may have been affected you will have the opportunity to enroll in the TrustedIDPremier credit monitoring program offered for free by Equifax.
Many homeowners policies and credit cards offer identity theft protection and/or monitoring – before signing up for something new, check to see what you may already have or could have for a small monthly fee.
There are companies like Life Lock that offer credit monitoring that requires an individual to enroll in a monthly service.