What Should You Do After Target’s Data Security Breach?
Today it was revealed that up to 110-million customers may be affected by the continuing Target data security breach. So what should you do to protect yourself? I cancelled my debit card today & requested a new one. In a report by USA Today, here's what Greg McBride with BankRate.com says we should do to protect ourselves.
- Monitor your account. Regularly check your debit & credit card statements to see if there's anything unusual.
- Watch out for e-mail scams. Hackers may now have your e-mail address, and may attempt to lure you into providing account and security info by posing as store or bank websites (known as phishing).
- Get your credit report regularly. You should be able to get three per year from each of the major reporting agencies. This is a good way to make sure someone hasn't opened accounts in your name.
A story on NBCNews.com adds these suggestions:
- To be safe, cancel your debit or credit card and get a new number.
- Contact the three credit reporting agencies and request a credit freeze, or the less drastic fraud alert. Contact Equifax.com or (800) 525-6285 , experian.com or (888) 397-3742, and transunion.com or (800) 680-7289.
Good thing my Target Redcard is maxed out. They will be disappointed hackers if they try to use it.