A massive breach at Equifax, one of the nation’s three major credit reporting agencies, potentially exposed the Social Security numbers, birth dates and other sensitive data of roughly 143 million Americans. If you have a credit report, your personal information may be at risk.
While no Rowan University data was involved in this breach, our team wants to ensure that you take steps to determine whether your personal information may be compromised and respond appropriately.
Has your personal data been compromised?
First, find out if your data may have been compromised by the Equifax breach. Visit www.equifaxsecurity2017.com while on a secure computer and network, click on the “Am I Impacted?” tab and enter the requested information.
The site will tell you whether your information may be exposed and will offer you the chance to enroll in a free credit monitoring service, even if your information wasn’t part of the breach.
What else can you do?
In addition to signing up for the free credit monitoring service, the Federal Trade Commission also suggests consumers take the following steps to help protect their data:
- Visit annualcreditreport.com to check your credit report from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion for free. If you notice any accounts or activity that you don’t recognize, visit IdentityTheft.gov to determine your next steps.
- Closely monitor your existing financial accounts for suspicious activity.
- Consider locking down your credit by placing a credit freeze on your files, which will make it more difficult for a thief to open new accounts in your name, or place a fraud alert on your credit report.
Visit Identitytheft.gov/databreach for additional steps you can take if your information was lost or stolen.