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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the Security Freeze

Summary: Krebs on Security lays out why credit monitoring services offered after breaches do not prevent identity theft, and recommends placing a security freeze at the four consumer credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian, Innovis and Trans Union - which blocks creditors from pulling your file until you thaw it with a PIN. Fees run from $0 to $15 per bureau, up to $60 for all four, and a freeze would have blocked thieves from using the IRS website to pull prior-year tax transcripts, a problem the IRS said led to tax fraud on 100,000 Americans this year.

What you should know: Breaches at Anthem (80 million identities) and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (4 million records) already put the data needed to open credit or file phony tax refunds in circulation, and the free credit monitoring offered in response only alerts you after the theft, not before. Krebs notes that even bankers and financial industry experts he speaks to are often unaware a security freeze exists.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Data Breaches
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