Handling a Data Breach

Have you experienced a data breach?

In March, 73 million people had their accounts compromised in the AT&T data breach. WalletHub’s CEO said, “After all the major data breaches in recent years, it’s a fair assumption that your personal information is already available to fraudsters and scammers. As a result, traditional methods of protecting yourself from identity theft are no longer sufficient, especially with artificial intelligence making impersonation easier than ever. Consumers should therefore think about premium ways of protecting their identity such as identity theft insurance, instant alerts, and access to identity restoration experts.”

Now here’s how Wallet Hub suggests your financial information be kept safe. Change the password on your accounts and enable two-factor authentication. Besides AT&T, include all your email and financial accounts. This makes it harder for fraudsters to gain information. Freezing your three major credit reports will protect you from fraudulent borrowing. Do this at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. This prevents anyone except you from accessing them. No one can take out a loan or a line of credit when these accounts are frozen. Never respond to unsolicited requests for information. When disputing credit report inaccuracies, use a process called “suppression” or “blocking.” This process gets rid of negative information resulting from identity theft, so the records in question won’t reappear after removed. Consider 24/7 credit monitoring in which you find out immediately if someone tries to open an account in your name.

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