Follow These Three Steps to Operate Your Business in Real Time

Security breaches like the one at Equifax in May 2017 are an unfortunate reality in the modern world. That breach affected about 143 million people. That’s nearly half of all American citizens!

At the time of that breach, I did a check at Equifax and found that my own data was compromised. So I went online from a secure computer to freeze my credit on the four national credit bureaus.

Since 2005, there have been nearly 8,000 breaches and over 1 billion records exposed according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. If criminals have your private information, especially your driver’s license, social security number, and home address, they can attempt to do the following:

  • Rent an apartment
  • Buy insurance
  • Get a mortgage
  • Get a car loan
  • Reprint a credit card
  • Open a bank account
  • Commit crimes in your name
  • Corrupt your medical records
  • Expose your email or phone number to phishing attempts

The list goes on and on.

It’s not good, and no security systems is foolproof, but you can be proactive and try to protect yourself by following a few steps, such as freezing your credit. When you freeze your credit, you restrict access to your credit report, which contains a lot of your personal information. Your credit report is normally used by lenders, banks, and other financial entities to check your creditworthiness, but it can also be requested by malicious actors if they have the right information. After you freeze your credit, you can manually unfreeze it, or it may unfreeze automatically after a planned period.

How to Protect Your Identity

Step #1: Determine if Your Personal Information Has Been Stolen

Contact the Equifax breach website at www.equifaxsecurity2017.com to determine whether you have personally been affected.

Step #2: Get Your Annual Credit Report

You are allowed one free credit report from the major credit bureaus each year. Take a look at your report to see if there are any loans or credit cards you did not authorize.

Step #3: Freeze Your Credit

It may be wise to freeze your credit now and unfreeze it later when you need it. Plan to unfreeze at least 3-4 days before you actually need to access it. Currently, there is no charge for Equifax and Innovis, but the other credit bureaus charge a $10 fee.

Step #4: Monitor Your Bank and Credit Card Accounts Often

Check your online accounts often to see if there are any transactions listed on your accounts that you are not aware of. Report discrepancies immediately. Equifax is currently offering free credit monitoring for one year.

Step #5: Change Your Passwords Often

You should change your username and password with each of your banks at least once per year.

Step #6: Be on the Lookout for Phone and Email Scams

There seems to be a new scam every day. Recently, a loved one of mine had money stolen when she was applying for a caregiver job. Stories like this are common and can happen to the best of us. Stay on top of the newest scams at the Federal Trade Commission Scam Alert site.

Conclusion

We live in a world where virtually everything is online, and businesses are responsible for vast amounts of personal data that can do great harm to us if exposed. More than ever, businesses and especially credit reporting agencies need to exercise due diligence.