Data breach at Equifax
 

143,000,000 records compromised.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/07/credit-reporting-firm-equifax-says-cybersecurity-incident-could-potentially-affect-143-million-us-consumers.html

Is this not the reason many of us have joined Equifax ... to prevent identity theft?

?! IRONIC ?!

Quelle surprise...

They say I have been compromised.

In order to get the free credit monitoring, I have to sign back in in 5 days. No reminders will be sent. :mad:

Seems they don't really want to have to comply with federal law.

Rep. Schiff just stated this happened about 6 weeks ago. He's pissed it took so long for Equifax to report it.

---------it gets worse---------

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/equifax-executives-dumped-1-8m-in-stocks-before-news-of-their-hack-went-public-report/

I only know this because I did a stint working on this kind of stuff....

If a breach is above a certain size, they are under no obligation to notify you that your information has been compromised. You have to go find out for yourself.

Sounds like a crime.

Equifax is a reporting agency, monitored or not, the information was stolen if you have a credit history.

rjp

Good thing I have my credit frozen huh?
I wonder what kind of assurance Equifax can give that the answers to my security questions that are asked to release the credit freeze weren't stolen?

This is bad considering our entire population just crosses over 300 Million.

This was predictable.

In fact, somebody did predict it.

Much like AI taking over the world. Couldn't happen they said on account of the algorithms.

So what is one supposed to do now?

I don't want to sound sarcastic and paranoid, but working in the software security industry, I can almost guarantee everyone's personal data has been compromised long ago. There are two types of companies, those who have been breached, and those who have not discovered they have been breached.

Grab a good bottle of wine and read this;

https://www.ictsecuritymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017-Data-Breach-Investigations-Report.pdf

What to expect when data is accessible from the net/outside.
Pure stupidity.

News just reported execs at Equifax sold 2,000,000 in stocks the day after discovering the compromise.

Oh oh, someone might meet Bubba or Ben...

I was watching the local news here in Marietta and Clark Howard recommended to do a credit freeze with all three major players: Equifax , Experian and Transunion . Sounded like a good thing to do even if it may be too late .

I went on all three of their websites and followed the " freeze credit " directions . On all three went all the way up to taking my credit card info but when I submitted all three stated freeze request denied :mad: So now what ?

Experian and Transunion state you can do the freeze over the phone so I guess I will try that route . But with Equifax the only other option is by mail..........what does that buy the execs more time to dump stock and make millions ???

One out of two Mericans just had their identity stolen...

This is really, really bad.

rjp

Sounds like?

This is what happens when banks (and data collectors) get "too big to fail". You'd think we'd have learned this in 2008 but noooooooo.

Google has probably a million times as much data amassed about everyone than Equifax, TransUnion and Experian put together and they want to sell it to people for a profit so that makes it all okay (at least in the eyes of conservative lawmakers and FCC "regulators"*).

Just wait until Google gets hacked. It'll happen eventually. Then we'll see how much personal privacy we've all really lost.

* translation: "industry appeasers"

About now is a good time to put your resume out seeking IT projects in security. :)

Posting now.

rjp

These guys are in the business of collecting (and selling) personal information. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they weren't trying to capitalize on this by getting people to "sign up" for services like credit monitoring / freezing only to have it be essentially clickbait / phishing intended to REALLY just amass more of your personal information. Heck, if I were a conspiracy theorist I might even think they orchestrated the whole thing themselves to see how many people they could get "current" information about through creating a panic... Naaaaaah. That'd never happen. Would it?

Can I make a prediction that absolutely NOTHING will happen to any of them or their executives? Our entire political system is owned by people exactly like this (good-sounding intentions like "draining the swamp" notwithstanding).

Freeze it with Experian. Once you freeze with one it automatically freezes them all. I learned this when my credit was compromised.

Still have the freeze active. I have to unfreeze when applying for a credit card or loan, in Calif they charge $10-15, some states $0. You can unfreeze 24 hrs or until midnight on a specified date.

I "froze" my credit with all three bureaus quite a while ago. The stupid "pre-approved" credit card offers stopped. Junk mail in general slowed down.

I'm pretty sure a credit freeze does what its supposed to. ...At least I hope so!

At this point, nobody can be legally expected to be responsible for consequences of ID theft, I guess...

Yeah freezing works, but I did all 3. Just one was not enough in my case, I know because I bought a car and they still got my stuff thru another reporting agency than the frozen one... So I did all 3, and tried credit Karma a week later: Locked ! Leased a car 1y later and they still could not get anything... I'm sure my "data" is out there regardless (hell someone kindly filed my taxes for me a few years back), the freeze just prevents "new" activity: no new accounts, new cards, new loans. it's cool ! You all should do it regardless, you can unfreeze on demand in minutes via your phone using a PIN, refreeze later... It's about $10 per, $30 total, trust me it's cheap compared to the alternative hassles...

It was probably in a linked article, but here is their official website to find out if you were one of the compromised humans.

https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/

At the top of the page, click the link to enroll in complimentary protection. It will then take you to a page where you enter some data and will get this message:

Based on the information provided, we believe that your personal information may have been impacted by this incident.
Click the button below to continue your enrollment in TrustedID Premier.

ALTHOUGH - before you click ENROLL, you may want to be aware that people who enroll in their "complimentary" service are possibly waiving their right to sue individually or participate in a class action suit. See "terms of service" https://trustedidpremier.com/static/terms

I used the link above a few minutes ago . It stated they don't believe my data was compromised no idea if that is accurate or not . Then tried to sign up for their complimentary credit reporting and it stated I could not do so until 9/15 ?????

Well, I just checked that link & it said my data may have been impacted. The I tried to contact Equifax with the number they provided to try to freeze my credit & got a busy signal.

I just froze my credit, and my wife's, with all three agencies this A.M. Used the online method for Equifax and Experion--no problems and got immediate confirmation and issued security PINs for me and wife. Transunion had web problems so used the phone number provided. Again, no problems, generated my own PINs, and they will mail out hard copy of confirmation to my home.

Is this the online method you used?
https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo.jsp

Yes. Did it twice, once for me and once for my wife.

I just went on all three websites & froze my credit reports. I've been intending to do this for some time. Better late than never I guess.

Same here, the latest breach just put a fire under my a$$. The information is already out there and may be used to impact one's credit for years to come so, IMO, if you haven't had an attempt to hijack your credit to date, you should be protected. Some states I noted automatically cancel a credit freeze after 7 years or so. It might be a good idea to check if your particular state is one of those.

Tried every friggen link that has been posted none work for me !!! My wife had the same results :mad: So I called Experian and had success !!! Then called Transunion and got all the way to creating my pin number , I created the pin number and their system yacked and said they would put me in contact with a mirror fogging representative.........then the line went busy . I give up .

I will try again on a different day but hopefully doing at least Experian has helped . What a pain in the sack .

Be careful ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/09/08/what-to-know-before-you-check-equifaxs-data-breach-website/?utm_term=.5e9fa1f5eb14

As I said in a previous post, as long as you freeze with one you are good. When I applied for a car loan recently they would not approve because my credit was frozen. Called Experian, lifted the freeze for 24 hrs, and called the dealer to rerun my credit. Same when I just purchased my home.

It's a PITA at times but I don't have to worry about I.D. theft anymore.

I'm not sure freezing our credit now will help much... IMHO

Experian and Equifax worked for me but I also had no luck with Transunion. :confused:

Yeah, everyone gets a date. That's probably for 1 good reason and 1 bad one.

Good reason #1.

If they let everyone sign up when they see the link, the website would be flooded with traffic to the point that it would completely fail, much like occurred on the Obamacare website. By spacing things out, they have a steady flow of folks instead of a flash flood that takes everything down/out.
This is actually a really valid reason.

Bad Reason #1

If they give you a date to come back, somewhere in the range of 1/3 - 2/3 of folks won't read the screen or will forget to come back and they won't have to hand out free service. It's pretty much the same as offering a mail in rebate to get people to purchase stuff. Most folks don't mail it in or don't keep a copy and therefore end up paying full price.

So, do you have to sign up with equifax to have been compromised? I'm a 'puter illiterate, so have trouble understanding what's going on. Cindy & I don't have a need to borrow, and our home has been paid for since the early 90's. We have used credit cards, but pay them off when the bill comes.

Short answer is NO, you don't sign up. If you have established credit of any kind, it is reported to the three companies, typically. You don't have a choice.