News from Equifax that the personal details of as many as 143 million consumers were accessed by hackers has raised new fears about identity theft and their vulnerability.
The credit-reporting agency is offering credit file monitoring for anyone who’s worried about the impact, but right now the only way to check to see if you were one of the victims is via a Website set up by the company.
Head to www.equifaxsecurity2017.com, scroll down and select either “Potential Impact” or “Enroll.” Consumers are asked to enter their last name and the last six numbers of their Social Security number. After that’s done, you’ll learn if you were affected by the breach.
Here’s the thing, though… As some critics have pointed out, the irony of a company announcing the theft of people’s social security numbers requiring most of a social security number to check their status is rich. And the site seems hastily put together, which may make people who are already on their guard wonder if it’s a phishing site.
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Note also that by signing up for the credit monitoring service, the terms of service could indicate that you’re waiving your right to sue the company, adds TechCrunch.
Making matters worse, for a brief period on Friday morning, the site’s security ID was not being recognized by Google Chrome, resulting in a warning page from the browser that encouraged people to not use it (the issue has since been cleared up).
It’s not a system that’s likely to win Equifax any supporters, but for now, it’s the only way to know if you were impacted. Your other option at this point? Wait for a direct mail notification from the company, which it says it will send to anyone whose information was breached.
The company did not give a timeline for when those physical notifications would go out.