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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- At least 4.4 million people have had their personal information stolen.
- I recommend you freeze your credit with all three credit bureaus.
- You should also enroll in an identity theft protection and credit monitoring service.
If it seems like hardly a day can go by without a major security breach, you’re not wrong. Adidas, Farmers Insurance, Google, and numerous other companies have had their data exposed due to several security breaches related to third-party applications. Now, a new attack on TransUnion — one of the US’s three major credit bureaus — has revealed the personal data of at least 4.4 million people.
TransUnion tracks the credit history of nearly 260 million Americans. If TransUnion knows for a fact that your information was revealed, you should have heard from TransUnion by now via postal mail.
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First, here’s the information we know has been swiped.
- Name: Full legal names were compromised, making identity theft easier.
- Social Security Number: This data is highly sensitive and can be used for financial fraud or opening accounts.
- Date of Birth: Important for verifying identity and targeted scams.
- Address: Home addresses were included, increasing the risk of physical and online targeting.
- Government IDs: Certain government-issued identification numbers (such as driver’s license or passport numbers) may also have been included.
On the positive side, TransUnion reports that credit history details and core credit report data were not part of the breach. It’s not much of a silver lining, is it?
Personally, I’m assuming everyone’s a potential victim. Whether or not TrasUnion has contacted you, I recommend you take action now to protect yourself.
Here’s what you should do.
What to do after a credit bureau breach
1. Freeze your credit
First things first: Freeze your credit with all three of the credit bureaus: TransUnion, of course, Equifax, and Experian. This will prevent creditors from viewing your credit report during the credit application process. If creditors can’t access your credit reports, they won’t open new accounts in your name, and crooks can’t take advantage of your information for loans or new credit cards. You can freeze your credit with all the credit bureaus and then unfreeze it at any point if you want to apply for a home loan or credit card.
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Personally, with data breaches becoming as common as a common cold, I now keep all my credit bureau accounts frozen.
2. Add a fraud alert to your credit bureau report
You may also want to add a fraud alert to your credit report at TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. This notifies lenders to take extra care when verifying your identity before approving new credit in your name. If you place an alert on any of your credit bureau accounts, it will share that information with the others. So, unlike a credit freeze, where you must set it up with each one, if you add a fraud alert to any one, the other two will add it as well.
3. Check your credit report regularly
Frozen or not, it’s a good idea to review your credit reports for unfamiliar accounts, addresses, or other changes. Free weekly credit reports are available at annualcreditreport.com for each bureau.
4. Enroll in an identity theft protection and credit monitoring service
I used to be reluctant to use identity theft protection and credit monitoring systems. I’ve changed my mind. The odds are just way too high that someday, somehow, my accounts will end up getting cracked.
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TransUnion is providing consumers with access to myTrueIdentity Online (TransUnion) Credit Monitoring services at no charge for two years from the date of enrollment. That’s nice, but given what just happened with TransUnion, even if I got the free service, I’d be inclined to add another one to my data defense.
5. Monitor bank and credit card statements
You should keep an eye on your bank and credit-card statements anyway, but now — more than ever — you should regularly check your accounts for unauthorized transactions and report anything suspicious promptly to your affected financial institution.
Report suspected identity theft: If you spot any signs of identity theft or unauthorized account openings, file a report with local law enforcement and at IdentityTheft.gov, and notify the affected business.
Good luck to us all in dealing with this. We’re going to need it.
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