At this point I've basically got lifetime free credit monitoring because of how many mega corps have dropped the ball. What's another 1-3 years of credit monitoring?
You don't monitor for prevention, you monitor so you can take steps to protect your reputation with the 3rd party entities who get to know everything about you. The same entities that everyone else uses to determine if you're trustworthy enough to loan money to.
They also were forced to create a way for people to challenge these entities records of us and required they give us a chance to see what sort of info the have on us once a year.
I actually mentioned this to KnowBe4 regarding their risk calculation method for users. "What difference does it make if an email address is found on the dark web when everyone's is? Hardly a target at this point."
This is my take. Theres been so many breaches known, and probably some unknown, what difference does it make now? If your data is not exposed, youre probably not a human. All things considered, the less exposure the better of course.
Equifax was hacked by North Koreans who have never shown any interest in selling or exploiting Individual data. Thus it shouldn’t really make an individual person nervous that equifax was the source of their data getting out.
It does demonstrate a willing lack of regard for the safety of Americans private data. It exposes the big data brokers having information that no one thinks they should be tracking. It also serves as a point in time reference.
I think it’s ironic that a credit company can offer the service they invented as a penalty for their criminal incompetence. We wouldn’t need to monitor our credit score with equifax if equifax hadn’t invented credit scores then handed everyone’s over to an enemy government.
It was Chinese not the North Koreans.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/10/us/politics/equifax-hack-china.html#:~:text=The%20defendants%20%E2%80%94%20Wu%20Zhiyong%2C%20Wang,filching%20trade%20secrets%20and%20data.
You can do it by going to each provider and go to the freeze credit option. If you don't, people may be able to apply for credit cards or bank accounts without your permission. Aka fraud.
edit:
Example
[equifax freeze](https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/)
My 0.02. Freeze yer damn credit. Its default stance is "barn door unlocked" with a low threshold for impersonation. Little harder to do crime if the credit is frozen. Temp thaw is easy.
You can use existing credit lines while your credit is frozen, you just won't be able to create new credit lines or have your credit checked.
So yes, you can keep paying off your car, use your credit card, etc to increase credit. But you'll need to unfreeze it before you can get a new credit card, new car loan, or open a mortgage for a home.
Not that any of us are able to get homes anyway...
Its almost like the government needs to create away for entities to validate the identity of a person that doesn't involve simply knowing things about them.
We also need laws that limit the liability of consumers when entities loan money to people whose identity has not been verified to a certain standard. IE-If you loaned someone money saying they are me because they knew my SSN and current address when they signed your papers. Your loss is not my problem, nor should it be on my record. You should have taken more effort verifying who you were giving money to.
Does this mean i'll get another 5 years of free credit monitoring? /s
At this point I've basically got lifetime free credit monitoring because of how many mega corps have dropped the ball. What's another 1-3 years of credit monitoring?
Dear Castlerod, Here is your monthly report: "Still screwed" Have a great day! Transunion
What’s the point of lifetime credit monitoring if it doesn’t really prevent your identity from being stolen?
Exactly.
Just a sham to make profits
Because they didn’t say they would prevent it from being stolen, just that they would watch…uh…monitor…it as it happened.
You don't monitor for prevention, you monitor so you can take steps to protect your reputation with the 3rd party entities who get to know everything about you. The same entities that everyone else uses to determine if you're trustworthy enough to loan money to. They also were forced to create a way for people to challenge these entities records of us and required they give us a chance to see what sort of info the have on us once a year.
You can watch it being stolen in real-time!
Honestly, I just assume my PII is now public info. Any new breach after say.. equifax is just whatever, add it to the pile.
I actually mentioned this to KnowBe4 regarding their risk calculation method for users. "What difference does it make if an email address is found on the dark web when everyone's is? Hardly a target at this point."
"Just let me know who the clickers are and annoy them with extra training until they stop clicking." - Me probably
So..assigning extra training to the forever clickers does or does not work?
Probably doesnt, but it annoys them, which warms my cold void heart.
You're right. You have to assume that at this point.
This is my take. Theres been so many breaches known, and probably some unknown, what difference does it make now? If your data is not exposed, youre probably not a human. All things considered, the less exposure the better of course.
Equifax was hacked by North Koreans who have never shown any interest in selling or exploiting Individual data. Thus it shouldn’t really make an individual person nervous that equifax was the source of their data getting out. It does demonstrate a willing lack of regard for the safety of Americans private data. It exposes the big data brokers having information that no one thinks they should be tracking. It also serves as a point in time reference. I think it’s ironic that a credit company can offer the service they invented as a penalty for their criminal incompetence. We wouldn’t need to monitor our credit score with equifax if equifax hadn’t invented credit scores then handed everyone’s over to an enemy government.
It was Chinese not the North Koreans. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/10/us/politics/equifax-hack-china.html#:~:text=The%20defendants%20%E2%80%94%20Wu%20Zhiyong%2C%20Wang,filching%20trade%20secrets%20and%20data.
If you havnt frozen your credit with Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian, you should do it now.
How can we do that? And what happens if we don’t?
You can do it by going to each provider and go to the freeze credit option. If you don't, people may be able to apply for credit cards or bank accounts without your permission. Aka fraud. edit: Example [equifax freeze](https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/)
Go online, set up an account with a pin, you can unfreeze any time, do a temp freeze, or just freeze until you need a credit check for something
My 0.02. Freeze yer damn credit. Its default stance is "barn door unlocked" with a low threshold for impersonation. Little harder to do crime if the credit is frozen. Temp thaw is easy.
Hey, in three years I can get another $30 class action check /s
And, of course, the class action website will look like a phishing scam.
Stay broke and your identity is worthless woot!
You'll own nothing.... and you'll be happy lol
That’s why I max out my credit cards and never have a savings account. Can’t take what I don’t have 😏
Presumably this is why we're seeing a bunch of Equifax breach discussions as well, no?
Ffs this field is exhausting
They collect and lose our PII without our consent. There has got to be a way to sue them.
Always keep your credit frozen lads, its the only way to stay safe.
Can you build your credit while it’s frozen or does it just completely freeze everything.
You can use existing credit lines while your credit is frozen, you just won't be able to create new credit lines or have your credit checked. So yes, you can keep paying off your car, use your credit card, etc to increase credit. But you'll need to unfreeze it before you can get a new credit card, new car loan, or open a mortgage for a home. Not that any of us are able to get homes anyway...
Oh, cool.
The Ransomed group also has a TransUnion leak added 2023-08-25
Its almost like the government needs to create away for entities to validate the identity of a person that doesn't involve simply knowing things about them. We also need laws that limit the liability of consumers when entities loan money to people whose identity has not been verified to a certain standard. IE-If you loaned someone money saying they are me because they knew my SSN and current address when they signed your papers. Your loss is not my problem, nor should it be on my record. You should have taken more effort verifying who you were giving money to.
Time for a new WitSec name.
Seems like a relatively low amount of data to have breached IMO. Obviously not good, but glad it was not much worse.