With more and more organizations hoarding increasing amounts of data about their customers, it’s only a matter of time before a data breach happens to a company that holds your personal or financial information. In the wake of such an event, what can you do to minimize the chance that someone will be able to abuse that data?
Writing for Lifehacker, personal finance writer Alicia Adamzyk and senior tech editor David Murphy offer a quick primer on actions you can take to help lock down your accounts and information. Beginning with public tools such as the FTC’s IdentifyTheft.gov website, and extending to recommendations for preparing for the next hack, the article offers guidelines on the following topics:
- Determining how the hacked data could be used;
- Freezing your credit reports;
- Managing your passwords;
- Enabling two-factor authentication; and
- Recovering hacked accounts.
While there’s always the possibility hackers could use your information in unexpected ways, these approaches could minimize the impact, or at least ensure rapid detection of whatever fraud is attempted.
Source:
https://twocents.lifehacker.com/what-to-do-if-theres-a-data-breach-1826450129
