OT - Protect Yourself - Equifax Breach
dracorn
Posts: 2,333
in The Commons
You can get information here -
https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/
This site includes instructions what to do: how to check to see if you may have been impacted by the breach, get a free credit report, how to do a credit freeze, etc. You get a free membership to Trusted ID for a year when you inquire.
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Strange, you find out that your information may have been compromised then you go to a page that asks you to fill in all your personal information again. Not sure how this helps.
The irony of that was not lost on me. I'm in the UK and from what I have heard on the news would not be affected as none of the 'services' they offer encroach on any area I am aware that I either use or have used by any local or central government agency. And yes, I am pretty sure that a lot is done about which I, or anyone, knows nothing! Got to love the internet!
I've heard it mentioned a few times now that by signing up for their Trusted ID service according to their terms and conditions, that you waive your right to sue them due to the data breach. Not sure how well that would hold up though if a judge awards a class action suite against them.
I've had my info stolen multiple times now. All by companies I trust. Target, my health insurance company, several other places. I have no doubt my info is out there on the dark web.
the reality is companies need to stop,using our social security as an Id number and passcode. That's not what it's meant for. Once it is is stolen it is hard for the individual to move on. Whenever key papers are compromised the offending company should pay to replace everything including government paperwork.
Also companies need to start paying damages.
Finally if companies don't understand how to conduct business on the net they need to stop having their records be on the web. Many of the companies compromised never asked me for permission to have my data hosted on an internet accessible device. If one failed update or virus check on a lazy workers computer will mean millions have bad days take it off the network. It really is inexcusable in this day and age
Ah, but in their "compassion" for your misery due to their failure to properly secure your data they've waived some of their fees. Mighty big of them.
The other two credit reporting organizations are feeling the heat too:
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/equifax-melts-down-under-surge-angry-consumers-n800991
They changed that so that if you notify them in writing within 30 days that you are not waiving that right then that provision does not apply to you. Still a pain though.
The main issue with the free TrustedID signup though is that it auto-renews and if you don't cancel before the first year is up, you get charged.
Luckily I've already got ID and credit protection for free as one of my benefits at work.
The scary thing about this is that I've seen estimates saying it may affect as much as 40% of adults in the US and the only place I am seeing any major coverage of it is online. My local news mentioned it in passing like it was a minor story.
What makes this even worse is the hack used a very basic, known flaw in Java. One that was fixed back in March with a simple patch. Supposedly the breach didn't happen until May.
The whole house of cards is beginning to fall.
I totally agree with this. I used to work in the IT field, and in the health care industry for a while. They need to stop identifying by the social security number. It's ridiculous how many places ask for it. It's too easily breached, both by internal and external forces.
I can just hear the conspiracy theorists now "It's all a setup so they can get rid of credit scores and identiy and force everyone to get an RFID chip installed!"
I was under the impression that it was not, strictly speaking, even legal to use your SSN as an ID for anything but tax purposes. I am not, as the kids on the interwebs say, a lawyer, so I could be wildly misinterpreting or misremembering something I was told (or more likely there is some sort of weird loophole that applies in this case) but I know that my university used to use student's SSN as your student ID # and that if you asked them not to, they had to assign you a new ID number unrelated to your SSN. Myself and a couple other students tested it and it turned out to be true in that case.
Got a credit card? Then you have a credit history, and Equifax surely has it. Just assume your information was stolen. No need to use a shady website asking for your SSN.
Trusting a company that was so careless with 148,000,000 people information and then Yesterday announced that they breached security again with all of Argentina????? For me it's not going to happen. Then there is the small matter that this happened in July but no one said anything until last week?????
Has anybody gone to the equifax site and input their information to see if they were impacted and gotten a report that yes indeed they were impacted, or are all replies saying "no, you're safe"?
I keep having flashbacks to the British comedy "Yes, Prime Minister" to a scene where the bankers in The City are casually discussing the impact of a major bank screw-up, over drinks at their club. Planning how to cover their ass and saying somebody else will have to fix it.
I had read this somewhere too but am also not a lawyer.
I got a "you may have been impacted" but then I assumed they just said that to most people wether they were or not, just to try to get them to sign up for Trusted ID
I don't know if anyone got a definate "yes you were impacted"
One of the tech sites claims that the responses are random - any six digits and a name can come back as impacted - and not impacted if retried.
I think the only people who will find out if they were definitely impacted are those whose credit card information was compromised, since they will get a letter about it (sorry, no link for this, I saw it on one of many places I looked at yesterday and don't remember which one said that). But if it's "just" your name, DOB and SSN you will never know for sure.
And of course, if your identity is compromised, they will be the first to lower your credit score becaue of it, even though it's their screw up to begin with...
I never did understand why in america they use your SSN so loosely.
There is no rule against using SSN's as a form of ID. In fact, we do that at the job I work for. I would prefer an alternate method of verification but this is so common place especially in the health and government industry that I think they should just leave it as a form of ID, and issue everyone a newer more secure kind of ID with anumber and letter combo so long, no one could use it for anything but social security benefits. Use the SSN as the Identity ID, if they need to. Keep the other for social security only.
Everyplace I call, whether it is a bankd, my isp, my cell phone provider, my doctors office, the hospital, will use ssn aas form of id here in California.
When I was in college they posted grades on the doors of claassrooms by social security number.
They are a bit more secure these days... but not much.
The reminder has been given and it is clear that the discussion is going to stray into forbidden areas so we are locking.