I have been notified that my information has been a part of at least two "data breaches," one due to previous federal employment and one from former private health insurer Anthem. The information potentially accessed includes my social security number, information from (as I recall, quite extensive) federal background check, and God knows what else. Both entities then sent me information on how to enroll in special credit and identity monitoring services at no charge to myself.
This happened some time ago and I just never did anything. I guess my thought was that I'd only be creating another place for them to store my info that might get breached again. I also forgot about it and just came across the related materials while catching up on a year's plus worth of filing.
In the case of Anthem, I also got a card (again a long time ago) saying that I am entitled to free credit monitoring services and possibly other benefits as part of a class action settlement, but I need to reply by the end of this month.
Anthem is also offering to put a free "credit freeze" or "credit lock" on one of my kids (? why just one and not the other), but to take advantage of this, they want me to send in a copy of the child's birth certificate, social security card, as well as proof of my own identity and address. This seems especially suspect and not a good idea to me, although I guess the insurance-related info would potentially have included information about my kids.
Any thoughts on whether to take them up on what they are offering?