National Public Data has confirmed that a hacking group exposed the personal records of millions of individuals, including name, email address, mailing address, phone number, and social security number. This security incident occurred in April of 2024 but did not come to light until a class action lawsuit was filed in August of 2024. With an undisclosed amount of social security numbers potentially leaked online, it is imperative to take precautions to protect your identity.

Check if Your Identity has Been Compromised

If you’re unsure if your identity has been breached, Pentester has created a tool to determine whether your information has been leaked or not. You can access the database here. While you might discover you have not been affected by this particular breach, chances are your information has been leaked at some point. If your information has been sold, your identity is at risk of being stolen. Thankfully, there are precautions you can take to prevent such actions.

Freeze Your Credit and Set Up Alerts

To protect your credit and identity, freezing your credit and setting up alerts is the best way to prevent hackers from using your information to open new lines of credit. To do so, you will need to freeze your credit at all three major credit bureaus, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. This is completely free to do and it only takes about 8 minutes.

Protect Your Family from Identity Theft

If you have children, especially those 18 or older, it is a good idea to freeze their credit as well. Even if they have not started building credit, everyone with a social security number is at risk following a data breach this large. Follow the same process to freeze your children’s credit and ensure their identity is protected from theft.

The Bottom Line

Even if your data was not leaked in this breach, cybercriminals find their way into unsuspecting businesses regardless of size. While this breach targeted a large entity, many small businesses are the target of similar attacks due to a lack of cybersecurity. To protect the information of your business, invest in a cybersecurity plan and offer peace of mind to yourself, your employees, and your customers.

For more information on comprehensive cybersecurity, contact us at Computek. Book a 15-minute discovery call here or call us at 512-869-1155!