The big news this past week has been the Equifax breach.
On September 7, Equifax — a top credit reporting firm — announced that hackers stole consumer data from mid-May through July 2017, affecting 143 million people. Hackers stole customer names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, and addresses. A smaller set of consumers also had their credit card numbers and other documents taken.
This is one of the largest data breaches in US history and the biggest known leak so far in 2017.
The size of this breach has alarmed consumers and lawmakers, and Equifax has been highly criticized for its handling of the breach so far.
You can find out if you were affected by the Equifax breach by following these steps.
You should then receive a notification about your impact status. Note that you do not need to continue with enrolling in Equifax's Trusted ID program, which the site will prompt you to do. This program is entirely optional, and not one that we would recommend. If you were one of the smaller number of people with other information stolen, such as your credit card number, you should receive a notification by mail from Equifax.
Here are some next steps you can do if your information was compromised, or if you are concerned that it might be. These are also steps to take in case of any data breach or hack that you think might have compromised you.
And if you suspect your identity has been stolen in the Equifax breach or any other hack, learn how to protect yourself here at the Identity Theft Resource Center or call their toll-free number at 888-400-5530.