Criminals are relentlessly pursuing your personal information, which, through no fault of your own, may have been exposed in a third-party vendor data breach. Data breaches involving social security numbers, health, and financial information are being revealed with alarming regularity.
Below are some strategies for better protecting yourself in this day and age
locking your accounts so that even if criminals gain your account information through a data breach they aren't able to easily use it; and
monitoring your accounts for suspicious activity
Protect your SSN
Take steps to protect your SSN by creating an account with the Social Security Administration (SSA).
The SSA provides the following resources to assist you:
To prevent criminals from opening lines of credit or services in your name, you may also want to proactively freeze your credit with the following three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion), or look to the NC Department of Justice for additional support.
Professional services are available to monitor and alert you if these services detect your name, address, date of birth, and/or Social Security Number are being used in applications for lines of credit or other services that could be used to defraud you.
LifeLock, Kroll and IdentityGuard are examples of companies that offer monitoring services you may choose to engage with to help you combat identity theft.
