2.9 Billion Social Security Numbers Leaked – Now What?

2.9 Billion Social Security Numbers Leaked – Now What?

The other week approximately 2.9 billion Social Security and personal information may have been breached.  The company National Public Data, which does background checking, was hacked and there is a high potential that your information was part of the data breach.  Sadly, this seems to be an all too common issue that no one is immune from.

Now that the information is out there, let’s focus on what you can/should do to be as protected as possible.  This blog can be reused any time your info is hacked, which sadly in today’s society is all too frequent. 

Were You Impacted?

For starters, it is worth knowing if your info was part of this particular breach.  There are two good sites to see if you are part of this breach, newsflash you likely are!  NPDBreach and NPDPentester are the two recommended sites to figure out what was leaked.  Once you type in your proper information these sites will give you a readout of what was compromised, for me it seems like everything!

Freeze Your Credit

After you determine what is out there you can start to remedy the situation.  You’ve likely heard about “freezing” your credit.  What does this actually mean?  There are three major credit agencies out there; Experian, Transunion, and Equifax.  If someone is going to attempt to open an account in your name or take out any credit they would have to be able to access one of these agencies as every major financial institution uses them. 

Thus, if you freeze your credit no one can, in theory, do financial harm in the form of opening anything new in your name.  This would be the most extreme but also the most impactful way of protecting yourself.  Just know, if you are going to go get a new credit anything you’ll need to unfreeze your credit. 

To freeze your credit at each institution follow these links: Equifax, Experian, Transunion.  Once you create an online account you can simply freeze and unfreeze your credit as you wish. 

Stay Informed

If you want a less intrusive way to stay informed you can sign up for services like Lifelock.  I personally use Lifelock and it is a good way to stay informed on what is happening with your accounts.  It won’t freeze anything to prevent someone from doing something nefarious, however, it will inform you any time something financial is happening in your life.  Disclaimer: it takes a bit of effort to get all your information in and it will bombard you with emails as it is pretty comprehensive.  Plus, who knew how many financial transactions I had in a week?

The easiest way to keep a handle on things, and least intrusive, is to simply keep on top of your personal finances.  Check your credit cards, bank accounts, and financial accounts regularly to see if there are any suspicious activities.  Worth noting although the least intrusive this is the most error-prone option as it relies on, well, yourself to vigilantly stay on top of these things. 

Sadly, this is a function of today’s society.  A month doesn’t go by that a client isn’t emailing us frantically that they’ve been hacked or compromised.  It is the most invading feeling having someone steel, well you.  It feels dirty, and violating, and can become a massive time waste.  There are plenty of preemptive things one can do to try to be safe, although nothing is foolproof.  I’ve included two guides you may find useful below that you can view or download.  Additionally, know that if you have investment accounts with us, there are multiple extra layers of protection that may put your mind at ease.

In any event, an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure.  Let us know if we can help in any way and as always stay wealthy, healthy, and happy!