Equifax data breach: What to do to protect yourself
Unless you’ve been living under a stone the past few days, you’re aware of the massive Equifax data breach which compromised the personal information of 147 million Americans including full names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and driver’s licenses. Basically all the information a bad person will need to steal your identity, open credit cards, etc.
After doing some digging in how to protect myself and my family, these things seem to be the current consensus on what needs to be done to limit your risk.
Add freeze to 5 credit agencies
These are the 3 main agencies and 2 lesser-known ones that are important to lock down. You will have a PIN (either assigned or customizable) that you can use in the future to thaw your accounts. Obviously if you are in the middle of a financial transaction that requires access to your credit report (e.g. mortgage re-finance), wait until those are done.
- Equifax https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/
- TransUnion
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze/place-credit-freeze - Experian
https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html - Innovis
https://www.innovis.com/personal/securityFreeze - ChexSystems
https://www.chexsystems.com/security-freeze/place-freeze
Do same for your partner, kids, parents, etc.
Repeat the above for your partner/spouse, kids, parents etc. Basically anyone that you care about that you know may have trouble (or unable) to do this on their own.
Update (9/16/2017): I haven’t validated this yet, but tip from Omar Shahine:
“I have read that kids don’t have credit reports and if you put a security freeze on one then it forces the creation of one. So you should first get a credit report to see if it exists”
Block electronic and phone access to your social security report
Apparently it’s possible for nefarious actors to gain access to your social security report over the phone and electronically. By blocking access, you can several limit your risk.
https://secure.ssa.gov/acu/IPS_INTR/blockaccess
Review your credit reports
Pull your free credit report from http://annualcreditreport.com (you’re allowed to do this once every year) and look for anything anormal such as accounts that you haven’t opened. Start a dispute process for anything fishy.
Monitor your credit report
This is a pain in the butt, but your financial safety is in your own hands. Monitor your credit report basically forever. Be vigilant.
Drop a note in the comments if I’m missing anything that should be added!
