“Social security numbers don’t expire,” he says on the ability of hackers to steal your identity today, tomorrow or 10 years from now. But, Clements warns, the danger doesn’t disappear as soon as you activate credit monitoring or implement an account freeze. Freezing your account will completely halt all access to your credit information - but allows you to maintain your credit score - as well as block hackers who may have stolen your information.Ī less drastic response is to take Equifax’s offered one-year of free credit monitoring to know if someone is using your information in fraudulent ways. You have a few options, but you must act now and you must follow up, says Clement. In other cases, by using so-called “social engineering” (where a criminal masquerades as a representative of your bank or credit card company), criminals can persuade people to reveal pin codes or passwords for their accounts, which can then be used to steal your money. What could happen to me if I’ve been hacked?Ĭlements said that a hack of this kind can lead to two types of fraud: account takeover and full identity takeover.Ī case of full identity takeover would be when a criminal uses your social security number, birth date, address and name to open one or more new, false accounts in your name.Īn account takeover, which can be just as damaging, is when a criminal assumes control of your existing accounts using some of this stolen information to pretend they are you, the account owner. One year of free bureau monitoring is “a nice way to get something in effect right away to give you some comfort on some of the risks,” Clements says. “They’ve made it very explicit at Equifax that you’re not waiving any legal right by signing up for this,” Nick Clements, co-founder of MagnifyMoney, a financial services organization, told the PBS NewsHour’s William Brangham during a livestream Wednesday. “Let me be clear: even if you use the free products by Equifax, you will retain your legal rights,” Schneiderman said in a subsequent tweet. #BREAKING: After conversations w/ my office, #Equifax has now made it explicitly clear-no one will waive their right to join a class action. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman tweeted Tuesday that “after conversations with my office, Equifax has now made it explicitly clear” that “no one will waive their right to join a class action” lawsuit. Initially, Equifax had language in their credit monitoring agreement that would waive customers’ right to sue at a later date. I’ve heard that if I enter my information in Equifax’s website, I lose my right to sue them later. You’ll be prompted to enter your last name and the last six digits of your social security number. This hack is being called the largest credit-card-data hack in American history, and even if you haven’t seen any foreign charges in your account, experts recommend you check your status on Equifax’s website:. ![]() The credit reporting company said it was unsure of which Apache Struts vulnerability caused the breach.Ī week after the breach was announced, the Apache Struts Foundation said that “the Equifax data compromise was due to their failure to install the security updates provided in a timely manner.” Apache Struts is free, open-source software used to create Java web applications. Here’s what you should know, and what actions you can take next.Įquifax originally told USA Today in September that the hack was the result of an “Apache Struts” vulnerability. 9, the Wall Street Journal reported that - according to Equifax - the hackers accessed additional, previously undisclosed information, including tax identification numbers, email addresses and other driver’s license information such as dates and states where licenses were issued. ![]() ![]() 2, the company said that an additional 2.5 million people were affected by the hack. population had been available to hackers for weeks before consumers could take action to protect themselves. 7, the hack was actually discovered July 29, which means sensitive data from about half of the U.S. While the credit reporting agency announced the breach Sept. ![]() Equifax is facing numerous investigations and hundreds of lawsuits over a massive data breach that compromised the personal information - names, addresses, birth dates and social security numbers - of approximately 145.5 million people.įor those affected by the breach, the path forward is still unclear.
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