Security Breaches are Increasing March 11, 2008
Posted by LifeLock Promo in Prevent Identity Theft.Tags: identity theft, identity theft protection, security breaches
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I visit the PrivacyRights.orgĀ site often to see what new breach has happened that may not have been reported on the news. It’s pretty scary to see how many there are.
Here’s one from a cell phone business that moved that really makes me nervous: “Two men found a box in a dumpster. The cell phone business recently moved and threw away documents that contained personal information from customers. The information contained driver’s license numbers, Social Security number, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, work and home addresses.”
They don’t even know how many people that affected but fortunately, the box was found by honest people. How many other businesses just dump info like that into a dumpster that we neverĀ hear about? No wonder dumpster diving is so popular. A full identity like that is worth about $100 each and can be sold many times over.
Universities, medical clinics, government offices and health insurers have lost tens of thousands of files. How can you ever think you’ll be safe?
You can put a fraud alert on your credit report for free by calling one of the credit bureaus. You can do it online at Experian. It’s free and doesn’t make it take longer to get new credit the way a security freeze does. The alert expires every 90 days, so you’ll have to remember to keep it renewed. The credit bureaus say the fraud alerts are for people who suspect they’re in imminent danger of becoming an identity theft victim or someone who already is. By following the trail of security breaches, I think we’re all in imminent danger of being the next victim. Our information is out there and we just can’t keep it controlled anymore.
Here’s another trick. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (612-d) makes it so you can receive a free credit report from each of the 3 bureaus every time you renew the fraud alert.
So you can actually access all your credit files every 3 months as opposed to every year.
Suck on that Experian!
Good call on that, LoopholeFinder.
Here’s the link to the FTC’s website describing Act 612(d) http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/6500-1150.html
(d) Free Disclosures In Connection With Fraud Alerts.–Upon the request of a consumer, a consumer reporting agency described in section 603(p) shall make all disclosures pursuant to section 609 without charge to the consumer, as provided in subsections (a)(2) and (b)(2) of section 605A, as applicable.
And the link to the FTC page with the Acts referenced in 612(d):
http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/6500-1100.html