*A:M User* Roger Posted September 8, 2017 *A:M User* Share Posted September 8, 2017 So apparently Equifax had personal data for something like 143 million accounts stolen recently. Which is probably about 60% of the working US population, if you remove minors and the unemployed: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/09/08/144229/equifax-breach-is-very-possibly-the-worst-leak-of-personal-info-ever You may want to monitor your credit cards for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted September 8, 2017 Hash Fellow Share Posted September 8, 2017 I was just about to post it, too! LA Times... Credit giant Equifax says Social Security numbers, birth dates of 143 million consumers may have been exposed Sounds bad. The big danger seems to be people using the info to open new credit accounts in your name. Which you get stuck with paying or pursued for collection. If you're like me and rarely need to let anyone do a credit check on you, this advice from the NYT sounds wise... What if I’m certain my data has been stolen from Equifax? Set yourself up with fraud alerts in case someone tries to apply for credit in your name. To be safe, do this at all three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Then, consider spending a few dollars to set up security freezes at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. This will lock down your credit files permanently, so that only companies that you currently do business with can see them. That way, if a thief applies for credit in your name, the company getting the application will not be able to access your credit file. No file means no new account. You will be able to temporarily open them each time you want to apply for new credit. I just did the Security Freezes. They were $10 apiece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuchur Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 Heard about it over here too... very bad indeed, specially since it is more or less a full record with credit card infos, names, address, birth dates, ID infos, driver licence info, and so on... And the 143 million is lower than what I've heard... depending on the data (from some there are less information available than others) it seems like data from up to 200 Million people has been available for month to unauthorized people. I'd say that is a really bad and big thing. Creating accounts, being able to get into accounts and so on is quite easy with that much data available... Be very careful about your accounts (not only bank)... Best regards *Fuchur* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted September 9, 2017 Hash Fellow Share Posted September 9, 2017 from the NYTimes...Equifax’s Instructions Are Confusing. Here’s What to Do Now. It’s time for all of us to play defense, because Equifax clearly did not. In the wake of the epic breach of as many as 143 million of our Social Security numbers, names and addresses from the company’s credit files, the company put up a website that attempted to make sense of things for consumers... On Thursday night, I entered my last name and the last six digits of my Social Security number on the appropriate Equifax web page. (They had the gall to ask for this? Really? But I digress.) I received no “message indicating whether your personal information may have been impacted by this incident,” as the site promised. Instead, I was bounced to an offer for free credit monitoring, without a “yes,” “no” or “maybe” on the central question at hand. By Friday morning, this had changed, and I got a “your personal information may have been impacted by this incident” notification. Progress. Except as my friend Justin Soffer pointed out on Twitter, you can enter a random name and number into the site and it will tell you the same thing. Indeed, I typed “Trump” and arbitrary numbers and got the same message. So my default assumption quickly switched to this: Equifax has no earthly idea who is affected. It turns out there is fourth credit reporting agency to worry about... In the meantime, here’s hoping that this breach is the nudge you need to finally sign up for permanent freezes on your credit files. I’ve used them for years, and here’s how they work. You sign up (and pay some fees, because you knew it wasn’t going to be free to protect data that you didn’t ask these companies to store, right?) at Equifax’s, Experian’s and TransUnion’s websites. Christina Bater, managing director at Barrett Asset Management in New York, suggests freezing your file at the little-known company Innovis, too. Hey, why not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted September 11, 2017 Author *A:M User* Share Posted September 11, 2017 Only bad thing about a credit freeze is if you're trying to buy a house or car or other major purchase you can't pay cash for, this is really going to put a wrench in the works. But this may be worth the inconvenience. How did these companies get to be such a big deal? It's too bad you can't opt out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted September 11, 2017 Hash Fellow Share Posted September 11, 2017 Just when you thought it was safe to trust the big credit corporation that couldn't be trusted...After Equifax Breach, Here’s Your Next Worry: Weak PINs When Helene Muller-Landau first heard the news about the Equifax security breach, she set about freezing her credit files and those of her husband and mother.Very quickly, however, Ms. Muller-Landau, a Smithsonian research scientist, noticed something strange: The personal identification numbers that Equifax was assigning her family members (to use for eventually lifting the freezes) were awfully similar.At first, she thought it was a mistake. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she was in Panama, or that her web browsers were acting up. But no: The Equifax PINs are based on the date and time that you set up your freeze.“The whole point of a 10-digit PIN is that it’s supposed to be hard to guess,” she said. “And then, they have this totally transparent algorithm for assigning them.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted September 11, 2017 Hash Fellow Share Posted September 11, 2017 Only bad thing about a credit freeze is if you're trying to buy a house or car or other major purchase you can't pay cash for, this is really going to put a wrench in the works. But this may be worth the inconvenience. How did these companies get to be such a big deal? It's too bad you can't opt out. You can undo the freeze temporarily, and I've heard you can undo the freeze just for a particular company. I've also heard that each unfreeze and re-freeze costs a fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted September 15, 2017 Hash Fellow Share Posted September 15, 2017 I have not investigated this development to ascertain if this company which I'm previously unfamiliar with has a useful solution to these troubles. None-the-less, FYI...Credit Karma to launch free ID monitoring following Equifax hack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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