Equifax revealed last week that it had been victim to a data breach affecting more than 143 million individuals. Millions of folks scrambled to figure out whether they were affected and, if so, what to do about it.
Shockingly, the data breach was initially discovered in late July but was kept under wraps as Equifax figured out what to do. The breach itself began back in May and, at least according to Equifax, was not further exploited after it was discovered.
Equifax, one of the three major consumer credit reporting agencies, said that the data breach left Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and “other sensitive information” vulnerable to hackers. Additionally, the bad guys were able to retrieve birth dates and addresses, as well as credit card numbers for 209,000 consumers, and, for the unlucky 182,000 consumers who were in the middle of a credit dispute, documents with personal information also was taken.
Equifax further stated that there was no evidence of unauthorized activity on its main consumer or commercial credit reporting databases. Presumably, this means that bank account, credit card and mortgage information was not unveiled. Presumably, if you believe the guys who kept this under wraps for six weeks.
So what should you do? Equifax has put up a website, at trustedidpremier.com/eligibility/eligibility.html, where you enter your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number, and they will tell you whether you were affected. If you were affected, then you are offered a free year of identity theft protection and credit monitoring from Trusted ID Premier, which is an Equifax subsidiary. Oh, and you will have to re-enter your sensitive information. So you would be trusting the guys who lost your data to protect your data. But hey, it’s free.
A better solution is to freeze your credit. This term is somewhat of a misnomer. You are not freezing your credit; rather, you are freezing access to your credit report. No one will be able to retrieve your credit report, thereby preventing accounts from being opened in your name, regardless of whether the opener has your sensitive information. To freeze your credit, contact the credit reporting agencies as follows:
>> www.freeze.equifax.com or 800-349-9960
>> experian.com/freeze/center.html or 888‑397‑3742
>> transunion.com/
credit-freeze/place-credit-freeze or 888-909-8872
Anecdotal evidence suggests that in recent days these websites and phone numbers have been difficult to reach. Keep trying, and you might be more successful in “off” hours, like evenings in Hawaii, when it’s late on the mainland.
The cost is about $5 per agency to freeze for Hawaii residents, and is waived if you can prove you have been the victim of identity theft. By law a freeze takes no more than three business days to take effect.
When you freeze your credit, the reporting bureau will give you a PIN. Do NOT lose this PIN. The PIN allows you to easily unfreeze your credit. If you lose this PIN it will take weeks, if not months, to unfreeze your credit.
If you plan to apply for credit or make a large purchase, you can temporarily lift the freeze, again, for about five bucks, or you can permanently unfreeze for no additional cost. Both a temporary lift and a permanent unfreeze take no more than three business days, again, by law.
If you opt for a temporary lift because you are applying for credit or a job, and you can find out which credit reporting company the business will contact for your file, you can save some money by lifting the freeze only at that particular company.
There is absolutely no reason not to freeze your credit. The only downside is it takes a few days to unfreeze or temporarily lift the freeze (assuming you have your PIN). The fact of the matter is, however, most everyone who will need to do that is responsible enough to afford themselves a few days to do so.
John Agsalud is an IT expert with more than 25 years of information technology experience in Hawaii and around the world. He can be reached at jagsalud@live.com.
