5 Things You Need To Do Right Now To Protect Yourself Against The Equifax Hack

Last week, almost half of the United States population was affected by the Equifax data breach with information such as names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and drivers license numbers being accessed by cybercriminals. Because of severity of the Equifax data breach, I recommend that, anyone with a credit history should assume they were affected by this data breach. So what steps do you need to take? 1. Check your credit. Federal law allows you to request a free copy of your credit report once a year from each of the three credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com to get your credit report now. 2. Enroll in a credit monitoring service. Services like LifeLock, Identity Guard, IdentityForce. While I've never been a big fan of credit monitoring services, now is the time to invest in one. They can’t decrease your chances of becoming a victim, they’ll alert you when something goes wrong and help you clean up the mess if someone tries to steal your identity. 3. Watch out come tax season. It's important for you to know that identity thieves can use your stolen social security number and other information obtained in the breach to file fraudulent tax returns and get refunds. You probably should file your taxes early next year. 4. Watch Out for Scams. With your personal information in the hands of cybercriminals, you need to be extra cautious as scammers have more information they can use against you to con you. After this breach you may start to receive suspicious or unrecognised phone calls, text messages, or email from anyone saying you must pay taxes or a debt immediately.

5. Review you statements. If you don't already, make a point to regularly check and monitor your bank and credit card accounts no less than once a week to ensure the listed transactions are legitimate. If you’re like me, you still probably aren’t feeling 100% secure, even after completing the above steps. It's hard to know how many of us have been affected so I recommend being vigilant in reviewing your financial information for any strange activity.

 How else can you keep up with the latest tech tips and cyber security alerts? Subscribe to my YouTube channel ‘Burton Kelso’ There are hundreds of videos designed to help you get the most out of the technology you use in your home or business. Burton Kelso is the Chief Tech Expert at Integral. They offer tech support to homes and businesses all over the Kansas City Metro. He regularly appears as a guest tech correspondent on ABC, NBC, FOX, and CBS on shows such as Kansas City Live, Better Kansas City, FOX 4 Morning Show, offering viewers easy tips on technology, Internet lifestyle, Internet security and gadgets. You can find Burton on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter and watch great tech tip videos on his YouTube channel. He can be reached at 888-256-0829 or email at burton@integralcomputerconsultants.com