By now, you’ve probably heard about the massive data breach that occurred at Equifax. If you haven’t, over 143 million Americans have potentially had their social security number, driver license number, and other private information exposed to hackers. When you consider that just over 325 million people live in the United States, you can see that nearly half of Americans could be impacted. Talk about scary! The graphic for today’s post is all business. So too is the post itself. We’ll tell you what happened, how to tell whether or not you are affected, and the steps that you should take to minimize any potential damage.
First, a word about Equifax. When this breach was announced, many people (myself included) weren’t exactly sure what Equifax was, and how so many people could potentially be compromised. As usual, I’ll let Wikipedia give the specifics: “Equifax Inc. is a consumer credit reporting agency. Equifax collects and aggregates information on over 800 million individual consumers and more than 88 million businesses worldwide. Founded in 1899 and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it is the oldest of the three largest American credit agencies along with Experian and TransUnion. Equifax has US$ 3.1 billion in annual revenue and 9,000+ employees in 14 countries. It is listed on the NYSE as EFX.” With the incredible reach and depth of information Experian has access to, it’s easy to see why they would be a target. It’s actually surprising that a breach of this magnitude hasn’t happened sooner.
The security breach occurred between May and July of 2017. Hackers were able to gain access to Equifax’s website thanks to a vulnerability in the site’s code. Equifax discovered the intrusion on July 29th, and has reported no vulnerabilities or illegal activity since. As was mentioned early, cyber criminals gained access to social security numbers and drivers license numbers. Unfortunately, that wasn’t all, as birthdays, credit card numbers, and the addresses of over 200,000 Americans were also stolen. In all, 143 million Americans could have been compromised. In response to the panic that set in after announcing the breach, Equifax has offered a free year of identity protection service to anyone who thinks they might have been affected. Enrollment into the service ends on November 21, 2017. As of this writing, the website is down, and their call centers are overwhelmed. In the meantime, if you’d like to see if you became a target, visit: https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/potential-impact/ . Enter your last name, and the last six digits of your social security number. I can understand if you’re leery about doing that! It took some courage, but I checked my information, and it isn’t believed that I’m in danger, fortunately.
What’s done is done, and we can’t go back in time to before the breach hit. We can, however, change the future. Step one should be to sign up for the identity protection service offered by Equifax. It’s free, so what do you have to lose? Alternatively, look up LifeLock’s protective packages. My wife and I have been LifeLock members for the last two years, and have nothing but good things to say about their service. Next, set up fraud alerts on your accounts, and consider instituting a temporary credit freeze. With a credit freeze, it’s more difficult for thieves to open new accounts in your name. Be sure to monitor your credit score periodically to make sure everything is on the up-and-up. While passwords weren’t the reason for the security breach, we’ll use this incident as a good reminder to be sure you always have strong passwords in place. Passwords should be at least eight characters, with upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols thrown in. Lastly, think about using two-factor authentication for your most important financial and personal websites. This authentication uses a secure password, as well as texting a code to your cell phone that must be entered into the website before you may be granted access. It’s just another security measure that helps give you peace of mind.
The impacts of the Equifax data breach will be felt for a long time. Businesses the world over will be forced to develop new ways to secure their customer’s private information so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Cyber crime is here to stay, unfortunately. Our personal information is out there, and there’s nothing we can do to preserve it. All we can do is be ready, be aware, and do all that we can to not end up a statistic.