Episode 105 – Dealing with the Equifax Breach

Before you panic

It is best to be concerned about your data. Between all of our smart devices and services that connect our data over the web. It seems like it is only a matter of time before we have our identity stolen. 

However, panic is never a plan. We need to understand how the latest breach effects us and what we need to do to better protect ourselves.

 My biggest concern with the Equifax Breach 

Equifax is one of the three credit reporting agencies in the United States.  This breach exposes the name, address, birthday, and Social Security number of 143 million people. 209 thousand people had their credit card information lost. And 182 thousand lost documents by Equifax according to www.equifaxsecurity2017.com. The first thing you need to do is go to  www.equifaxsecurity2017.com.

What to do now?

Chances are you or someone in your family have been exposed.  Here are the quick steps you need to do if you are part of the 143 million.

Ways to protect yourself

  1. Check your credit reports for free on www.annualcreditreport.com
  2. Place a Fraud Alert or credit freeze on all of Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion
  3. File your tax return ASAP
  4. Signup for a service like Credit Karma
  5. Or better yet higher a service that will help resolve problems if you are compromised
    1. Market Leader is LifeLock
    2. Or what we use ID Shield like LifeLock with extra SSN protection
  6. Protect your passwords and track all the sites you have bad or duplicate passwords with LastPass.
  7. Always use VPNs when you are not in a secured network. Try NordVPN

24 other reasons to protect yourself

Since 2016 there have been 25 major data breaches with at least 900 Million records lost. And out of those numbers, there have been many companies who do not know or did not state how many records have been lost. There could have also been other breaches that have not been publicly released.
In these days of an interconnected world, you should consider the best ways to protect yourself and assume that at some point you or a family member will have their identity stolen. Please consider a service like Identity Shield as a way to protect yourself.

  1. Equifax  2017
  2. Taringa 2017
  3. Grozio Chirurgija 2017
  4. Erie County Medical Center 2017
  5. Friend Finder Networks 2016
  6. Commission on Elections 2016
  7. Weebly 2016
  8. Taobao 2016
  9. 21st Century Oncology 2016
  10. KM.RU 2016
  11. Nival Networks 2016
  12. Verizon Communications 2016
  13. Apple Health Medicaid 2016
  14. University of California, Berkeley 2016
  15. University of Central Florida 2016
  16. Central Coast Credit Union 2016
  17. Cox Communications 2016
  18. Department of Homeland Security 2016
  19. Democratic National Committee 2016
  20. Inuvik hospital 2016
  21. EyeWire 2016
  22. Gyft 2016
  23. Ofcom 2016
  24. Rosen Hotels 2016
  25. TaxSlayer.com 2016

Other Sources

Get An Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN)

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/understanding-your-cp01a-notice

The Equifax Data Breach: What to Do

When Information Is Lost or Exposed

Best Identity-Theft Protection 2017

 

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