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Credit Karma To Launch Free ID Monitoring Following Equifax Hack (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the some-relief dept.

Credit Karma is launching a new free service that will alert customers if their identity data has been compromised in hacks, the San Francisco-based fintech company said on Friday in the wake of massive breach at credit monitoring agency Equifax. From a report: The new ID monitoring service is being tested and will be available in October, the company said on Friday. Similar to services offered by Symantec-owned LifeLock, CreditKarma will keep track of data breaches and tell customers if they are one of the victims. Customers can then check to use the company's credit monitoring services and flag suspicious activities. The company said it was accelerating the launch of the new service in response to the large data breach at Equifax, where thieves may have stolen personal information of 143 million Americans.

24 comments

  1. your money was stolen by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    thought you would like to be third in line to know...Credit Karma

    1. Re: your money was stolen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Credit bureaus are hacked everyday. You can take advantage of that, I did. Reach out to creditkarmahacker.com they can help you obtain excellent score

  2. why bother? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    anyone that tried to steal my identity can only improve my credit rating.

    1. Re:why bother? by reboot246 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Rodney Dangerfield said his wife's credit card was stolen but he decided not to report it since the thief was spending much less than his wife did.

  3. Re:your identity was stolen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fixed that for you.

  4. Credit Karma can't even get credit reports to work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I've tried them several times since Equifax illegally refuses to give you your once a year free copy of your report, and Credit Karma has never been able to provide it. I really want to see it so much that I'm thinking about paying money to see it. Too bad the morons at Credit Karma are building new software before fixing the garbage they already have.

  5. Why? by arth1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They're doing this out of the goodness of their heart?
    Or, is "free" perhaps not entirely true?

    1. Re:Why? by Szeraax · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you've never used CreditKarma, then you don't know. They advertise credit cards and other crap.

      This year, they launched a free tax filing service that doesn't try to sell you any crap. Worked quickly and easily and transferred all my info to state without any hassle.

      I don't have a problem with their LifeLock equivalent and look forward to continuing to use them.

    2. Re:Why? by hattable · · Score: 1

      Credit Karma has always been very forthright with how they sustain the site. In plain language, and usually, before content, during, and random browsing. Of course it is another "we are the product, not the..blah tinfoil blah," but it is one of the best examples of the model working "best"

      But people won't care, use them anyway, the bitch and moan.

      Related/Unrelated, the best "identity protection service" I have used is MyIdCare. Full disclosure, the first few years were free (thanks OPM), but the amount of information they monitor, and how quickly they get a notification to you (vice your email inbox), is surprisingly fast.

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    3. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ISIS claimed responsibility for your credit report. ae911truth dot org

    4. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it's an easy sell for them. They want signups, so tell everybody that their information has been stolen. SLAM DUNK!

  6. So one more company has my info...... by Puls4r · · Score: 1

    So, to know that I've been hacked they'll need my info. So who is going to start a service that monitors Credit Karma and tell me when THEY have data breaches.

  7. Maybe a silver lining soon by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If literally half the SSNs in the US are compromised, maybe we can eliminate them as a means of identification.

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    1. Re:Maybe a silver lining soon by Athanasius · · Score: 2

      As a means of identification isn't the problem, they can be useful to disambiguate same-name, born in same town etc. The problems arise when they get used as a means of authentication/verification of that identification.

    2. Re:Maybe a silver lining soon by burtosis · · Score: 3, Insightful

      +1 to this. They are fine as a unique identifier, but using them for any authentication should be a criminal offense.

    3. Re:Maybe a silver lining soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they can be useful to disambiguate same-name, born in same town etc.

      so can mandatory tracking implants

    4. Re: Maybe a silver lining soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're not particularly good as unique identifiers either, seeing as they aren't unique.

    5. Re:Maybe a silver lining soon by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 3, Interesting

      They're tied into a verification system that has only knowledge of the ID as proof. While it's possible to change that, easy to replace the whole system than deal with adding verification to the various systems.

      Plus, it's hardly futureproof, since it's so used up (over, what 70% of possible SSNs are currently active) that they are reusing SSNs.

      Frankly, having a global id seems pretty bad.

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    6. Re: Maybe a silver lining soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Australia still uses Medicare card numbers for ID

      which is insane as they are easy to fake

  8. yeah, by no-body · · Score: 1

    but if this service is hacked with all the goodies it tracks?
    Big Booh!

    1. Re:yeah, by Athanasius · · Score: 1

      Indeed, I'm wondering how this is going to work. Unless you give Credit Karma all the details they can't be sure it's *you* has been hacked. And unless they tell you all the details upon detection you can't be sure they've correctly detected a problem for you. If they mis-identified you then they may just have given you private information about someone else.

    2. Re:yeah, by hattable · · Score: 1

      Seeing as they will be held accountable for an incident like that by so many orgs (not to mention GDPR...because I already have a headache), I think they will have pretty serious logic flow review and analysis before it hits production.

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    3. Re:yeah, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      You don't give Credit Karma all of your details just enough of them to use in order to identify you.
      You give them:

      An email address
      A password you've never used before
      Your legal name
      Physical address that would be found on a credit report
      Date of birth
      Last 4 digits of SSN

      With this information they can identify you. They then ask you some multiple choice questions based on the credit history they have access to. Stuff like

      Did you get a loan from:
      A) Loan company A
      B) Loan company B
      C) Loan company C
      D) None of the above

      It may be a true question or a trick question because your loan company was not listed or you don't have a mortgage.

      They match the answers with the credit information and then let you see credit information. At all times they never let you see the 4 SSN digits or DOB you submitted. They provide you information about your credit to keep you interested in visiting the site and at the same time suggest their partners credit cards. They make all email communication optional.

  9. Re: Credit Karma can't even get credit reports to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Sign up and then cancel. Tell them it wasn't you.
    Which person with all your information are they going to believe?