GREENSBORO, N.C. — After recent data breaches with companies like AT&T and Ticketmaster, consumers are looking for ways to keep their data and private information protected.
Michael Bruemmer is the Vice President and Head of Experian Global Data Breach Resolution. He said data breaches are becoming more common.
"For our business, the 2023 Experian serviced over 5,000 data breaches globally, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center which is a nonprofit organization in our industry,” Bruemmer said. “In 2024 so far, there have been over a billion records compromised which is more than all the records compromised in the full year of 2023."
If you ever suspect you are a victim of fraud or a data breach, Bruemmer said there are several ways to protect yourself
- Take advantage of any credit monitoring or identity theft protection offered as part of the breach notification.
- Change your passwords on accounts associated with a breach.
- Use two-factor authentication.
- Limit your use of social media accounts.
“Think about taking advantage of dark web monitoring and other companies that offer dark web monitoring,” Bruemmer said. “Generally, when the breach happens the data is going to be sold on the dark web and if you determine your data is out there, although you can't get it back you can at least know what to protect.”
Bruemmer also suggested filing a police report. This can serve as a record that you suffered fraud because of a breach.
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