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“To ensure peace of mind ignore the rules and regulations” – George Ade
After the much publicized Equifax breach this past week where 143 million data records have been reportedly stolen by cyber crooks, I’ve put together these practical tips on how to protect ourselves from the upcoming threats of financial and personal harm coming our way.
Unfortunately, we are ALL affected either directly or indirectly and will most likely be vulnerable for many years to come since these criminals went for the holy grail of online personal information sites and succeeded.
Being an information security professional for the better part of eight years now, I’ve seen first-hand how little vulnerabilities turn into large holes which then result in actual compromise; the sad part of which is they are all preventable if only the proper individuals were paying enough attention and care.
As it currently stands, the current online environment makes it particularly hard for ordinary users and consumers like us to protect ourselves since WE are always the last ones to know.
Most of these companies we rely on use our information as a source of income and revenue and have an inherent responsibility to protect them from compromise, but sadly most are careless and some are flat out irresponsible.
And as long as there’s financial opportunity, there will always be threats and risks to our data.
HERE ARE 4 SIMPLE TIPS ON HOW WE CAN PREVENT CYBER THIEVES FROM MESSING WITH OUR ONLINE LIVES AND REPUTATION:
1. TEMPORARILY PLACE A FREEZE ON OUR CREDIT REPORT
This is very important since criminals already have access to our information as early as May or even earlier, and could possibly be preparing to either impersonate or worse sell our identity to other criminal enterprises.
I suggest implementing this freeze right away and stop applying for or using credit information to open new accounts for now.
The easiest way to go about this is to call the reporting agencies directly at the numbers below; the URL links also take you to the online page where you can initiate the request (credit- FTC)
- Equifax— 1-800-349-9960
- Experian— 1‑888‑397‑3742
- TransUnion— 1-888-909-8872
NOTE: I’ve gone through the Equifax link above and it was straightforward and FREE
2. AGGRESSIVELY MONITOR ALL FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
I use the creditkarma app to monitor my credit report and open financial accounts, primarily since it’s free and the app is easy to use, I try to go in there monthly but I suggest to go in weekly or until the credit freeze to your account has been activated.
Some of the items that can be perpetrated using your identity can be the following (Source: USA TODAY)
- Medical ID Theft – pretty self-explanatory, people can go in and impersonate us and have medical treatment done at our expense
- TAX Fraud – criminals can start opening up tax returns in our name which can take a whole amount of effort to clean up
- IMPERSONATION– the worse that could happen is have these criminals sell them to other criminals who then live as us in another country to go under the radar
To help ensure our reputation and information are protected, we can also sign up for Identity Theft Protection, here are a few of the top reputable providers.
These companies will monitor and protect our online reputation for an average fee of $20/month which will be worth it temporarily if we’re unable to altogether freeze our credit reporting for one reason or another.
Equifax is offering a Free Credit Monitoring service but it comes with strings attached as CNBC reports; primarily a disclosure that users waive the right ‘to pursue a class action lawsuit’ against the firm.
Consequently due to the anger that resulted in this discovery, Equifax released a follow up disclaimer saying that the standard language of ‘the right of arbitration’ which included the ‘class action’ clause, as reported by Engadget, did not apply to this particular situation and users are still encouraged to apply at Cybersecurity Incident Information Page .
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3. MONITOR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
I have a very unique name, or so I thought, that’s why I was surprised when I checked Facebook recently to see how many accounts are open with the same name, and I particularly discovered one fellow who was using my name and impersonating me for reasons I have yet to figure out.
I contacted Facebook and then later on LinkedIn to let them know that this is a potential impersonation attack, their links are below;
It’s hard enough to keep up with our own profiles let alone someone else using it for unknown purposes.
Plain and simple, if we put in the time and actively monitor our online reputation, we can stem the tide and actually prevent later threats to our personal and financial integrity.
4. SUBSCRIBE TO THE FTC BLOG
One of the best sources of information for ALL things related to Consumer Protection is the Federal Trade Commission website.
Naturally, being a government run site doesn’t make it any more secure than Equifax, but if you want to get a leg up on relevant information, how-to’s, and resource pages to report improper activities related to fraud, this ‘SCAM ALERTS’ page is the site to subscribe to.
There’s a ton of information relating to the latest scam alerts in a wide range of subjects, from mortgage, immigration, online dating, identity theft, and a whole bunch of others.
Great INFO related to the recent Equifax Breach here.
WRAPPING UP
Our online reputation is our own personal business so let’s not expect the government, third parties, or even family to take the initiative to protect us, it’s our life so it’s ON US to make sure we protect it.
Hopefully, the resources above can help in getting us started in that direction.
If you have any questions or have other suggestions on how ALL of us can better protect ourselves from online threats, please send us a comment below or email us at thedebtfreejourney@gmail.com.
Thanks for your time and until next post.
Peace and Blessings to you All.
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