Equifax, one of the three major credit monitoring bureaus, announced recently that more than 143 Americans’ personal identifying information had been stolen. It’s a massive attack on American citizens and residents, with Social Security numbers, names, birth dates, addresses, and driver’s license numbers all stolen. Additionally, around 209,000 people had their credit cards numbers stolen as well. This means that nearly half of all Americans are now at serious risk of identity theft.

Equifax realized a hack had occurred July, but didn’t announce it until early September, six weeks later. The company claims that the hack was perpetrated via a vulnerability on their website. According to Thomas Fox-Brewster in Forbes, security experts examined the Equifax site and found that it’s running on outdate software, and that “[it] definitely should not be possible to do what happened if security was sound.”

The incident is infuriating, frustrating, and terrifying to anyone who has used Equifax’ services — which is basically anyone. Credit checks are required for everything from renting an apartment to getting a new credit card to taking out a loan, and there are only three companies that perform them. That means that the American public has been forced to give over very sensitive data to a private company with inadequate methods of protecting it.

With the information that thieves now have their hands on, they could open bank accounts, get new credit cards, get a driver’s license in your name, open new credit lines, steal your tax refund, mess up your medical record and prevent you from getting new prescriptions, or even steal your Social Security check.

There’s no way yet to definitively determine whether or not your information was included in the stolen batch. And for some of those possibilities above — like medical fraud — there’s no good way to protect yourself yet. However, there are some steps you can take to protect your money, at least, if not the rest of your identity. It’s also slightly reassuring to remember that because this hack was so widespread, it might be easier than usual to combat the ensuing identity theft that is guaranteed to occur. We can hope.

What you can do

Get a free credit report

Federal law says that you’re entitled to one free credit report per year from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — the three credit reporting agencies. It’s a good way to make sure that no one has tried to open a new card or apply for a loan on your credit. However, keep in mind that those changes can take some time to show up and that they don’t reflect activity on your current cards or bank accounts.

Get your credit report here.

Keep an eye on your current accounts

With that in mind, it’s important to keep a close eye on any and all of your current accounts. If you don’t already, make reviewing your charges regularly a habit. Put it in your calendar. Make sure you do it every week or every other week or whatever amount of time you choose. If you see anything that looks even remotely suspicious, check with your bank immediately.

Freeze your credit

One way to make sure that no one can take out any loans or credit cards in your name is by freezing your credit. A credit freeze keeps anyone — creditors, landlords, credit card companies — from viewing your credit report. Because this is an essential step for setting up new lines of credit, it protects you from people trying to take out credit in your name. When you freeze your credit, you receive a PIN that you can then you use in order to lift the freeze, either temporarily or permanently, when you want to get a new card or a loan or an apartment.

In order to freeze your credit, you have to call all three major companies, as well as a small company called Innovis. Credit freezing does have a price, using $5 to $10, which is frustrating — but much less frustrating that cleaning up after identity theft.

Here are the numbers for all four companies, as well as information about the process for each:

• Equifax: 1-800-685-1111
• Experian: 1‑888‑397‑3742
• TransUnion: 1-888-909-8872
• Innovis: 1-800-540-2505

Put a fraud alert on your credit

You can currently put a fraud alert on your credit for free — and, unlike some of the other processes here, if you inform one company they’re obligated to inform the other two. With a fraud alert, you’ll be notified if anyone tries to take out credit in your name. The alert lasts for 90 days and can be renewed.

Information about placing your fraud alert here.

Monitor your credit

Credit monitoring informs you when a company checks your credit, which can alert you to the possibility that someone is trying to take out a card or loan in your name. Some companies also provide monitoring services for other types of identity theft that don’t have to do with money, like social media, utility bills, and payday loans.

This step is only necessary if you choose not to freeze your accounts, which is preferable to monitoring as monitoring only informs you that something bad has already happened. However, some people can’t freeze their credit right now — for example, those who are trying to get a mortgage — and might like some protection anyway.

Credit monitoring usually does have a cost, but Equifax is offering a free year of credit monitoring via their TrustedID Premier service. The service includes alerts about any changes to your credit, from all three companies, a lock on your Equifax credit report, identity theft insurance, and internet scans for any use of your Social Security number. There are reports, however, that the site is also vulnerable to attackers.

If you choose to go for credit monitoring instead of freezing your accounts, we recommend you use one of the free services that allow you to check your credit at any time, rather than rely on (and pay) the big three companies. It’s a little more work, but you have more control over the process.

Share this post