This is the second week in National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. For the previous posts (and other security articles we've posted) please see: www.newpaltz.edu/ncsam.
The first topic this week is about monitoring and freezing your credit. Some may say that it isn't a cybersecurity issue, and it isn't completely. The sad reality is though that many of us have been part of past data breaches, and those are just getting worse. One of the most common things that criminals will do following a data breach is use the information in that breach to open fraudulent credit/bank accounts with the stolen information.
One way you can help defend against this is by checking and freezing your credit reports. When your credit report is frozen with the major credit reporting bureaus, it makes it more difficult for someone to fraudulently open lines of credit with a stolen identity.
Reviewing your credit report
The federal government requires the credit reporting bureaus to provide each person free access to their credit reports on an annual basis. The website setup for this is: www.annualcreditreport.com. Once there, click "Request your free credit reports" and follow the instructions there.
Knowing what is on your credit report, especially if there is anything inaccurate, can help save you a LOT of trouble in the future (when getting a mortgage, car loan, credit card, or other forms of credit).
Freezing your credit
I recommend the two articles below. They both talk about what freezing your credit means, but the latter article has more specifics on actually setting the freezes up.
You can, if you need to apply for credit in the future, temporarily unfreeze your credit, then refreeze it after.
My hope is that no one receiving this ever has to worry about identity theft. That being said, being prepared and freezing your credit, as well as monitoring it, well prevent many of the worse issues caused by identity theft.