GREENSBORO, N.C. — You're hearing all the things about the latest data breach. The biggest claim of the headlines: hackers stole the social security numbers of every American.
Here's what we know:
The breach involves National Public Data. This is a company that does background checks and collects personal data, whether you gave them permission or not. There is a lawsuit claiming National Public Data was negligent and info was easily stolen and put up for sale on the dark web.
While you can ask a million questions like 'How did this happen? Is the breach really this big? Was my information part of the breach?'
The best question to ask is 'How do I protect myself from this hack or any other that comes along'?
#1 PROTECT YOUR FINANCES BY FREEZING YOUR CREDIT
A scammer can use your information to open up credit cards and take out loans in your name.
To keep a scammer from opening up credit cards or taking out loans, you put a freeze on your credit report. You do this for each of the credit bureaus.
P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348//1-800-685-1111
Experian Security Freeze
P.O. Box 9554 Allen, TX 75013//1-888-397-3742
TU Protected Consumer Freeze
P.O. Box 380 Woodlyn, PA 19094//1-800-916-8800
Let me make this clear, you CAN still use all your existing credit cards. A credit freeze is free.
#2 PROTECT YOUR TAX INFORMATION
A scammer can use your information to file taxes and take your refund. Your best protection is to go to the IRS website and get a PIN to file your taxes. This is an extra layer of protection.
One last tidbit, you should have two-factor authentication on your devices and for getting into your accounts. If you haven't set that up yet-- do it now.
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