Another Data Breach? Don’t Get Data Breach Fatigue.
Spend a moment thinking about how many entities have your personal identifying information. You likely provided it to them for a legitimate need, like a loan or credit card application or a medical claim. These organizations have data on millions of individuals, and we trust them to maintain the security needed to protect it for us. If you add to the list of companies those that only have your name, email and home address, and credit card information, that’s essentially every website from which you’ve ever made an online purchase.
Hackers spend their lives searching for a way in, using sophisticated techniques to get through cyber security measures and steal valuable information from entities of all types.
The National Association of Attorneys General defines a data breach as the unlawful and unauthorized acquisition of personal information that compromises the security, confidentiality, or integrity of personal information.
What is considered personal information depends on state law but typically includes an individual’s first name (or initial) and last name plus one or more of the following:
Social Security number
Driver’s license number or state-issued ID card number
Account number, credit or debit card number, combined with any security code, access code, PIN, or password needed to access an account
One of the biggest risks following a data breach is that scammers could use your stolen personal information to open a loan or a line of credit in your name, potentially damaging your credit score or leaving you to pay for the fraudulent charges.
When a data breach leads to identity theft, the cost can be staggering. Therefore, it is important that you know what to do if you receive a data breach notification and also that you take steps to help protect yourself as much as possible in the future.
Immediately after receiving a data breach notification in your inbox or hearing about a retailer breach that might affect you, it’s important that you act quickly to take a few precautionary steps.
Change your passwords right away.
Identify any compromised information. Look further into what information was exposed so that you can take the appropriate action. IdentityTheft.gov/databreach has information on what to do to help protect yourself in each case.
Report the data breach to the Federal Trade Commission.
To help protect yourself in the case of future data breaches, the following actions can help you save time and money for the inevitable next time:
Don’t reuse passwords.
Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) whenever it is available.
Keep a close eye on your credit report.
Consider placing a fraud alert.
Next time you receive a notification about a possible data breach, follow the steps above, both to put a stop to harm that may have already begun and to make it much more difficult for them to impact you in the future.
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you and request personal information. If something seems suspicious,
please contact us immediately at 678-486-1111
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