The 31 Forms of Identity Theft – Account Password – Online Accounts

The 31 Forms of Identity Theft – Account Password – Online Accounts

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#13 Account Password – Online Accounts

When a major corporate hacking incident occurs, the news outlets can find many stories to spin out of it, so they go wild. In order to discern if you are affected by the breach, you can check the website of the hacked company, but it would be good to assume that you were affected. The only thing that may been seen as positive in a situation like this is that there are likely millions of others who also have had their passwords leaked in this incident, so there is a likelihood that the hackers will take a while to mess with your information. So, you may have time to quickly change your passwords.

This data breach problem has become so big that there are multiple browser extensions that will cross-reference your login details with a list of hacked logins and will tell you if your password has been hacked.

Password safety advice from experts:

  • Never use the same password across websites.
  • Reusing passwords will make you a more vulnerable target. If a hacker gets ahold of one password, they are more likely to gain access to more than one account. 
  • Set up two-factor authentication for all of your accounts.
  • Don’t click on links from an email that is seemingly from a provider you know. It can potentially be a phishing attempt and the link likely has malware and keyloggers coded into it to gather sensitive information. 
  • Change your account passwords regularly – we recommend at least quarterly.
  • Use strong, unique passwords. Include uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters in your password.
    Credit monitoring will not alert you to this type of fraud

     LibertyID will take the following steps for/with their members:

    • Place fraud alerts at all three credit reporting agencies
    • Place credit freezes at all three credit reporting agencies, if appropriate
    • File report with FTC
    • Review credit reports with the victim to ensure there is no other types of fraud
    • Provide single bureau credit monitoring with alerts for 12 months
    • Periodically contact the member throughout the 12 months following resolution of their ID theft recovery case, if warranted