Were you potentially hacked from the massive Equifax breach?

Equifax announced yesterday that they’ve were hacked on a scale unlike any we’ve seen potentially impacting half of our population.

From Equifax: “…a cybersecurity incident potentially impacting approximately 143 million U.S. consumers. Criminals exploited a U.S. website application vulnerability to gain access to certain files. Based on the company’s investigation, the unauthorized access occurred from mid-May through July 2017.”

The criminals may have access to names, social security numbers, addresses, birth dates, drivers license numbers and credit card numbers.

WHY did Equifax wait over a month to let Americans know about this massive breach? According to their press release, this was discovered July 29, 2017!

After checking Equifax’s site, it appears that both my husband and I are “potentially impacted”. To see if you’re one of the unlucky ones, you just need to enter your last name and the last six digits of your social security number. If you are “potentially impacted”, you’ll receive a date as to when you can proceed with enrollment with their credit monitoring service. Apparently this is being offered to all Americans – however, we (my husband and I) have to wait a week to finish enrollment.

I highly recommend that you check Equifax’s site to see if your or your children’s personal information has been potentially compromised. Enrollment for Equifax’s credit watching service ends November 21, 2017.

Here is more information about identity theft from the FTC.

I currently have a freeze on my credit. Truth be told, it’s a small hassle contacting the credit bureaus and “freezing” your credit as to not allow new accounts to be opened. If you decide that you do want to open new credit, including refinancing or buying a home, you have to contact the bureaus and stop the freeze. A freeze on your credit will not stop criminals from using existing open credit – it will just prevent new credit from being opened in your name.

Because my husband and I are on Equifax’s potentially hacked list, I will be double checking my statements from May forward for any odd charges.

I also have my calendar marked for when we can revisit Equifax’s site to enroll for credit monitoring. They state they will not send a reminder to when you can proceed with enrollment.

Click here to see if you’re one millions who may have been comprised.