Equifax just got hacked.
Have you been hacked? What to do after the Equifax data theft - The Boston Globe
That's really bad news. It's probably the worst data breach, anywhere, ever. Equifax has _everything_ on you. Name, SSN, date of birth, addresses, old addresses, what credit lines you have, spouse, children, mother's maiden name, previous addresses, phone numbers, cars owned ... they have it. And now it's possible the hacker has it too.
What does that mean? Use your imagination. The hacker can now, for example, take out credit lines in your name.
Now, you can contact Equifax and ask them if your info was breached. However, Equifax has shown themselves to be a bunch of idiots. Do you want to trust them? Better to just assume the hacker has your data now.
What everyone should do, now, if you haven't done it already, is freeze all of your credit agency reports. That's not freezing your credit. It will have no affect on your accounts. It will not affect your credit score. It just prevents the credit agencies from giving out your credit report to anyone. That makes it much harder for anyone to use your data to open an account. Not impossible, but more difficult, and it's better than doing nothing. It's something you should do anyways, unless you know you'll need to open a new credit account somewhere soon. And there's even a benefit -- you'll stop getting new credit offers in the mail.
Here's where to go to put in your freeze at the big 3.
Equifax;
Equifax | PersonalIDInfo
Experian:
Experian - Add a security freeze
TransUnion:
TransUnion
Have you been hacked? What to do after the Equifax data theft - The Boston Globe
That's really bad news. It's probably the worst data breach, anywhere, ever. Equifax has _everything_ on you. Name, SSN, date of birth, addresses, old addresses, what credit lines you have, spouse, children, mother's maiden name, previous addresses, phone numbers, cars owned ... they have it. And now it's possible the hacker has it too.
What does that mean? Use your imagination. The hacker can now, for example, take out credit lines in your name.
Now, you can contact Equifax and ask them if your info was breached. However, Equifax has shown themselves to be a bunch of idiots. Do you want to trust them? Better to just assume the hacker has your data now.
What everyone should do, now, if you haven't done it already, is freeze all of your credit agency reports. That's not freezing your credit. It will have no affect on your accounts. It will not affect your credit score. It just prevents the credit agencies from giving out your credit report to anyone. That makes it much harder for anyone to use your data to open an account. Not impossible, but more difficult, and it's better than doing nothing. It's something you should do anyways, unless you know you'll need to open a new credit account somewhere soon. And there's even a benefit -- you'll stop getting new credit offers in the mail.
Here's where to go to put in your freeze at the big 3.
Equifax;
Equifax | PersonalIDInfo
Experian:
Experian - Add a security freeze
TransUnion:
TransUnion
