Last night a strange thing happened. I’d just finished writing an article for my other blog, the Boomer Consumer, on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website. It was about the kickoff for a series of events throughout Washington state on how to protect your digital identity.
The phone rang and it was the financial institution that issues one of my credit cards. The automatic message read off a list of recent transactions, and one for about $500 I didn’t recognize. The financial institution blocked my credit card; I need to get a new one.
It was ironic. I was writing about advice to consumers from the sponsors of the event: AARP, the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, Microsoft, the Federal Trade Commission, BECU, and the Social Security Administration.
The groups recommend freezing your credit, checking your online accounts regularly, and strengthening your passwords and privacy settings.
Fortunately, I check my credit card accounts and bank account frequently to make sure no one is stealing my money or using my charge cards. When a new law goes into effect in Washington state in June authorizing free credit freezes, I’ll freeze my credit. With a credit freeze in place with the three national credit bureaus, a criminal is unable to access your credit file or open new credit accounts. I have strong passwords and I’ve updated my Facebook privacy settings.
For the digital identity series, the Washington AARP released a state report, “Up for Grabs.” The survey of Washington online users 18-plus shows that a lack of awareness and knowledge of online problems may be contributing to increased dangers for consumers. Six-in-10 Washington adults failed a quiz testing their Digital Identity IQ, according to the report. For example:
- Only one-third of respondents know that a fraud alert won’t prevent their credit file from being shared with potential creditors. A fraud alert doesn’t block potential new credit but places a comment on your history so that creditors will contact you prior to opening a new account.
- Only one-third of respondents know that a scan of the dark web won’t confirm whether your personal information has been stolen. Because of the way the dark web is structured, it’s impossible to do a complete scan of it.
- Only about half of respondents know that purchasing ID theft monitoring services don’t prevent identity thieves from stealing your identity. Most ID theft monitoring services will notify individuals if someone is attempting to open new credit in their name. However, it won’t prevent it from happening.
- Only about four in 10 know that there are millions of Social Security numbers available for sale on the internet for as low as $3 each.
Not only is a lack of awareness putting consumers at risk, but many others admit they have given up. Six in 10 of those surveyed said that given the number of data breaches that have occurred in the past five years, they think that no matter what they do, it’s inevitable that criminals will use their stolen identity to exploit their credit at some point.
"With data breaches constantly in the news, keeping your personal information safe may seem like a difficult task," said Attorney General Bob Ferguson. "There are simple steps you can take to better protect yourself from identity theft. Take advantage of the resources offered by AARP, the Attorney General's Office, and others."
Has anyone mentioned the problems that can result from placing a credit freeze? I’ve heard (from reputable sources) that, as one might expect in the 21st C business/corporate world, that some businesses interpret a credit freeze as the individual can’t USE his or her credit card at all.
I don’t think that’s the intent of the freeze, but apparently it’s happened to some people after they’ve placed a freeze. And I’m sure it takes at least a few hours if not several days to get in touch w/anyone who can make it clear to all retail/front line employees that that’s not what’s supposed to happen. Or it might even be “never” given how “consumer unfriendly” most large businesses or businesses owned by large corporations are. Just dealing w/a telecommunications business takes up to 45 minutes & is often a nightmare if you need anything out of the ordinary done. Try getting your e-mail address removed in almost any business (but particularly a telecomm) because at least the telecomm I dealt with found it almost impossible to do. I didn’t want to get the spam/buy this service, buy that service crap I was told the telecomm wouldn’t send but of course did.
Forget filing a complaint w/an agency, at least in OR. Last I heard, OR’s entity to deal w/telecomms had spent more then 3 years trying to get the telecomm whose faulty grid system (and either it didn’t have the required backup or it failed too) led to the failure of the 911 system for 5+ hours in OR. No storm, no physical cause, just negligence. More then 3 years later, the agency had still not gotten much in the way of compliance AND had no real way of forcing it. I was told it had now requested the OR DOJ to sue. But hadn’t heard if the DOJ would.
So, a telecomm violates its contract, its negligence means a 911 system and contact with emergency services/first responders was unavailable AT ALL for hours, yet the telecomm has suffered ZERO consequences as a result. ZERO. Unless you think that getting questions from a powerless agency is a severe consequence. There’s so little competition in most US economic sectors, there may be no other telecomm to contract with in that part of OR.
Government by corporation really works well, doesn’t it?
I hope you’re aware that corporations are not subject to any dollar liability for their security breaches, i.e, costing consumers who knows how much money because of corporate negligence. Again, isn’t government by corporation grand?
Hi Azure,
I’ll check into your question on credit freezes and whether there are no consequences to corporations for data breaches.
Rita
Hi Azure,
Placing a freeze on your credit files doesn’t prevent you from using your existing credit lines, or affect how you use things such as your existing credit cards. If you would like to open a new line of credit however, you must first “thaw” your files. This process of freezing and thawing your files with each of the three bureaus currently costs about $60; $10 per bureau to freeze, $10 per bureau to thaw. In some states, credit freezes are free for seniors. However, in September, placing a freeze will be free for everyone due to a recent law passed my Congress.
While freezing and thawing your files can be inconvenient, consumer advocates agree that it’s one of the most effective steps you can take to protect your identity. With a credit freeze in place, a criminal is unable to access your credit file or open new credit accounts.
Rita
it’s very difficult to keep confidential and protect your computer from viruses
To protect your computer from viruses and other threats, you can use a number of preventative measures.
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