The Equifax Breach Looks To Effect 2.5 Million More People

Ugh! Just when we all thought we had the whole Equifax information breach almost under control, it looks like more people may be effected by.

Try 2.5 million more people.

WIFR reports that Equifax is now saying that their information leak has the potential to effect 2.5 million more people than originally stated. That brings the total of people to 145.5 million.

Whoa! This is so not good.

Equifax said that "'criminals' exploited a U.S. website application to access files between mid-May and July of this year". They gained access to "consumers' names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, driver's license numbers were exposed. Credit card numbers for about 209,000 U.S. consumers were also accessed."

Oh Boy! All the more reason to check your accounts.

This is really discouraging news.

So what can we do about it?

According to the video below. Equifax has mailed all of it's costumers that may have been effected in the breach on instructions of what to do.

"To help answer consumer questions about the breach, Equifax has established a website—www.equifaxsecurity2017.com—and a call center, 866-447-7559." (Lifelock)

According to Lifelock here's the other steps you can take to protect yourself:

• Check your credit reports to confirm that thieves haven’t opened credit card accounts or taken out loans in your name. You can access free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com. If you find activity that isn’t yours, here’s how to file a dispute with the credit agencies.
• Monitor your credit card and bank accounts, keeping an eye out for unfamiliar transactions. If you spot something that doesn’t look right, contact that financial institution.
• Consider putting a credit freeze or fraud alert on your credit reports. You’ll find more information in this article. But also note that there are many kinds of identity theft that do not require a credit check and, thus, may not be thwarted by credit freezes or fraud alerts.
• Consider credit monitoring or identity theft protection to help protect you. You’ll find an overview of what each provides in this article.