Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: What's a Practical Response To the Equifax Breach?
In response to the massive Equifax cybersecurity incident impacting approximately 143 million U.S. consumer -- making it possibly the worst leak of personal info ever -- Slashdot reader AdamStarks asks: What steps can the average Joe take to protect their identity? Accepting Equifax's help forfeits your right to sue; it's the same with applying for protection at TransUnion (not sure about Experian). Extra services at those companies also cost money, but that's putting even more of your data in their hands, and it's not clear whether the protection/help they provide is worth it (leaving aside not wanting to reward bad behavior).
That sad story could be used to ask for political change.
There are countries where knowing someone's SSN is not enough to get a credit on his behalf, why US residents could not enjoy similar protection by law?
No, but that several billion dollar judgement hit sure hurts The Credit Mongers! They HATE to lose money. Maybe a couple billion in THEIR losses, might make them a bit more cautious about not caring about OUR losses when they allow BS like this to happen.... Hmmm? Maybe? :-P
And how exactly does a freeze help, if the next credit bureau hack obtains all those freeze PINs?
There's nothing you can realistically do to protect yourself against these attacks. The entire business model of storing a bunch of sensitive information about literally everyone in a single place is fundamentally fucked from the beginning. Especially when they have very little incentive to safeguard data about us peasants.