Personal data of around 143 million people was exposed in a recent hack
There have been quite a number of people affected by the recent data breach at Equifax. Hackers were able to expose credit card numbers and personal data of some 143 million Americans, including their Social Security and driver's license numbers.
ProVest Wealth Advisers of Spartanburg president Noel Swain surmised in a report by Spartanburg Herald-Journal that the hackers could have already exploited these leaked sets of information and sold them to people who would try to use them to make purchases.
What can clients learn from this incident? Swain said clients have to be proactive in cases such as this, making sure they can protect themselves from anomalous transactions that can arise from data breaches.
One way, he said, was for clients to set up credit card purchase alerts to avoid hurting their credit report.
“I have my credit card company send me an email every time there’s been a purchase. If I see a purchase that comes across that is not legitimate, I call to cancel that card,” he said.
Equifax, on their part, has launched a website where consumers can sign up for credit file monitoring and countercheck if their data were potentially compromised.
Meanwhile, Colonial Trust of Spartanburg president Barry Wynn said the risk of identity theft is one of the downsides of cyber society.
He told Spartanburg Herald-Journal, "We’re always going to have these disasters potentially. They’re just going to happen. The key is, how do you address these? They can hope for good results, or ensure good results."
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