A recent hack has put millions of Americans at risk. According to reports, hackers broke into the records of a company called National Public Data. This is a background check company, so it had extensive information about billions of consumers. The hackers stole this information, which included millions of Social Security numbers, and they posted it online.
There are different steps that consumers can take if they’re worried that they have been affected. Websites have been set up so that they can check and see if their Social Security number was part of the breach or not. They can also contact credit reporting companies like TransUnion or Equifax. The companies can sometimes freeze their credit reports so that activity by hackers won’t lower their credit scores.
Is information ever safe?
Even if your information was not technically part of this leak, it does show just how quickly sensitive information can be released to the public. It’s not as if individual consumers made any mistakes, like clicking on phishing emails or downloading viruses. They did not do anything wrong, but their information was still stolen from a third-party website.
Part of the issue here is that information is often stored in the cloud. It is convenient when information isn’t strictly local and can be accessed from multiple locations. But this ease of access also means that a hack is a potential risk. Consumers may not anticipate this risk when using their Social Security numbers or submitting to background checks, but they could still be drastically impacted by such a leak in the future.
If you find yourself in this position, it is very important to understand all of the legal options at your disposal.
