Should you get a free credit report for any data breach?

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PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston Samsung Electronics — the giant multinational that sells 28% of all the smartphones in the world, as well as many
[See the full post at: Should you get a free credit report for any data breach?]

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Fred, Mr. Austin, rc primak, lmacri

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If hackers get in clear-text format “customers’ names, addresses, birthdates” they have all the data they need to create fake IDs, credit cards, and even to create fake financial and fintech accounts.

This may be coincidence, but within less than a month after I received the Samsung announcement, my bank ATM-Debit card was charged a “ping” amount ($1.62, or about one British Pound) in England (where I have never even visited). This was clearly a breach of my Master Card branded ATM-Debit Card. Again, maybe coincidence, but the timing was perfect for this to have originated in my Samsung home automation App account. I think the Company may have understated just what types of data were stolen. In any event, I had to get a new bank ATM-Debit card as a result.

I do review my bank account statements every month, and I get my Free Annual Credit Reports. But these reports and statements may not reveal all the things hackers and ID thieves can do based on the info Samsung leaked. I do stagger the Reports throughout the year.

My phone and devices are not Samsung branded, but just by using one of their apps, I got my data exposed. (It looks like my Moto smartphone by Lenovo isn’t a top brand worldwide.)

[T]he number of breaches suffered by the company — and by many other corporations — doesn’t inspire confidence.

Amen to that!

It’s a crying shame that we consumers have to deal with the fallout from companies that didn’t protect their data from hacker intrusions.

It certainly is!

-- rc primak

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A credit report only tells you your current status. If there is a breach where thieves can access your credit card numbers and other personal data, you want to put a freeze on your account, so others cannot access this. That is easy to do. There are 3 firms in the US that create and publish credit reports: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. It is easy to add a freeze.

Then at a later date, just have the freeze removed.  Removing the freeze should be easy, and it is at Equifax and TransUnion. You can do it over the phone with those two in one call, as long as you have enough information to convince their representative that you are who you say you are.

But at Experian it is a nightmare, as I am finding out. Their 800 number is never answered by a human. You cannot log into your account even if you have the correct name and password. Their website tells you what you have to mail them to have the freeze removed. I did that a month ago, and as of yet no response.

If it is a major breech, and you are planning on buying something that requires you to have good credit, then you have no choice but to use all three firms. But if you have no immediate need for credit, just deal with Equifax and TransUnion to make sure all of your information is correct.

 

Harry

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That Samsung got hacked speaks directly to a simple strategy which could help. Get phones from mid-range or smaller manufacturers who present less of an attack surface for your private, confidential data.

Human, who sports only naturally-occurring DNA ~ oneironaut ~ broadcaster

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Fred

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Mr. Austin wrote:

That Samsung got hacked speaks directly to a simple strategy which could help. Get phones from mid-range or smaller manufacturers who present less of an attack surface for your private, confidential data.

Right , and plus that: smartphone producers & OperatingSystems should be obliged to upgrade their systems, and patch the vulnerabilities. These flaws are numereous and I think it’s a shame that people with some little bit older phones are left to the internet sharks.

Right now someone is obliged to manage that themselves; imho that’s almost impossible, but one is obliged to buy new.

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