Equifax Data Breach

Equifax announced yesterday that there was a cybersecurity breach in July, and 150 Million US consumers were affected.  A plethora of information was taken (i.e. social security numbers, addresses, date of births, etc.).  Unfortunately they are informing us of this a couple months after the incident, but they are taking steps to try to make sure all those who were affected have some sort of protection.

You can go to this website to see if you are affected.  You will then be given an enrollment date, which you will need to note, and then return back to this site (https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/) to complete the enrollment.  An overview of what your enrollment gets you:

“The service will include credit monitoring for all three credit bureaus — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian — as well as copies of their Equifax credit report. Consumers also will be able to scan fraudulent use of their social security number on the internet; lock and unlock their Equifax credit report; and obtain identity theft insurance. All services will be provided free for one year.”

Instances like these are why it’s so important to take precautionary measures to ensure your data is as secure as possible, so be sure to take the necessary steps to protect your sensitive information.  For more information about how you can secure your data, check out my relevant blog post here.

If you have any questions about this article or how Total Wealth Planning keeps client data secure, please send us an email at info@twpteam.com or send us a message here.

Relevant Links: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs
https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn/legal_compliance/schwabsafe