Equifax Hackers May Have Your Social Security and Credit Card Numbers
Equifax announced that a “cybersecurity incident” occurred on Wednesday , affecting 143 million US consumers. Between mid-May and July of this year, hackers were able to access certain Equifax files, including names, social security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, credit card numbers, and some driver’s license numbers.
Are you not outraged yet? You must be indignant.
The company discovered an unauthorized access on July 29 and immediately stopped the invasion. But that still means that some of your (very personal) data may be there.
Equifax sends notifications by mail to all victims. If you want to find out now, and not wait for the letter (I’m sure I did), then you can check if you have influenced by entering your last name and the last six digits of your social network into this form on the company’s website. a dedicated website about the incident .
And if you think you should probably sign up for credit monitoring now (you probably should have it anyway), Equifax tries to distract you from this whole “security incident” by giving it away for free next year.
It won’t stop people from doing something with all this stolen information, but at least you will find out about it (at least if it happens in the next 12 months).
When you check for a security breach, you will be given a date when you can return to sign up for TrustedID Premier, which includes “includes Equifax, Experian and TransUnion 3-bureau credit reporting; Copies of Equifax credit reports; the ability to block and unblock Equifax credit reports; identity theft insurance; and search the Internet for social security numbers “
When I checked I was told that I could not subscribe to TrustedID until September 13th, along with a note to mark my calendar as they would not provide any reminders. It definitely makes you feel like an empty gesture.
Update: Also, the small print hides the fact that by accepting, you are giving up your right to sue the company . If you were one of those affected, you may need to think twice before accepting an offer.