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Thread: Equifax leak?

  1. #1
    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    Equifax leak?

    Is anyone concerned about the Equifax leak of personal information...including social security numbers? I have not had any debt for the last ten years and only use a debit card. I am not sure that I understand the degree of exposure risk or the details of how it all works, but it would seem that no one is exempt from the risk of identity theft and because the information includes social security numbers, it is more serious and different in nature than some of the hacks like Home Depot and Target. The solutions Equifax have offered look mostly bogus and the fixes I've run across are cumbersome. This is probably the most informative information I've found so far.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/y...T.nav=top-news

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    I've gotten so used to these types of things should I just ignore them anymore. That's probably not the best plan but I can't live on high alert every day.

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    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    I think it's a very serious security issue, and hope it will lead to a better security architecture for our personal information.

    Right now the entire system is flawed, based on "shared secrets" that aren't really secrets at all, less so now that Equifax has made it trivial to harvest the whole list.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tammy View Post
    I've gotten so used to these types of things should I just ignore them anymore. That's probably not the best plan but I can't live on high alert every day.
    +1

    (and where is the government in all this - at least they shouild be cracking down hard on Equifax/ Oh right looks at who is in charge - shippest of biggest fools ever to sail the ship of state ever - never mind ....)
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    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore View Post
    (and where is the government in all this - at least they shouild be cracking down hard on Equifax/
    "Cracking down hard" still doesn't address the problem that now the social security number and associated other personal identification of pretty much every adult American is now in the hands of criminals, and that the entire basis for identification verification used in this country is now worthless.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
    "Cracking down hard" still doesn't address the problem that now the social security number and associated other personal identification of pretty much every adult American is now in the hands of criminals, and that the entire basis for identification verification used in this country is now worthless.
    well no but then punishing crimes doesn't always undo them either. Perhaps this stuff never should have been left up to unaccountable companies in the first place. Or they should have been very tightly regulated at any rate.
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    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore View Post
    well no but then punishing crimes doesn't always undo them either.
    What crimes did Equifax commit?

    Perhaps this stuff never should have been left up to unaccountable companies in the first place.
    Seems a bit early, and incorrect, to maintain that Equifax is "unaccountable". There may well be torts cooking in ovens as we speak. I'd certainly at this point read very carefully the fine print in any "benefit" or "remedy" they offer up - I'd expect to see liability releases hidden in there.

    Or they should have been very tightly regulated at any rate.
    What regulations are they subject to now?

    What "tighter" regulations would prevent this sort of incident? How would they be implemented/enforced?

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    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    DH and I are both on the list of "probably compromised," but yawn. My data has been compromised all over the place, but it honestly hasn't impacted us much. It seems like we've established enough good credit behaviors over our lifetimes that when we say, "no, we did not order a piano," they believe us and no piano is delivered anywhere.

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    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    I don't see a practical way to do anything, and I suppose the odds of someone singling one person out of the other 120 million people are small. It just seems like a quantum leap worse than someone having your credit card information and trying to make purchases or withdrawals. I could imagine that once a person has you name, address, and social there are a multitude of identity theft schemes that could be more damaging.

  10. #10
    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rogar View Post
    I don't see a practical way to do anything, and I suppose the odds of someone singling one person out of the other 120 million people are small. It just seems like a quantum leap worse than someone having your credit card information and trying to make purchases or withdrawals. I could imagine that once a person has you name, address, and social there are a multitude of identity theft schemes that could be more damaging.
    I'm just glad that the broker that holds the bulk of my sorta-liquid assets uses biometrics, and requires a voice communication in addition for some transactions.

    I mean, someone could still kidnap me and force me to Do Things, but I lock out my accounts when I'm travelling in Dark and Scary places.

    There are other vulnerabilities to their scheme, but they are pretty action-movie-villain. For most any security protocol, the weak spot is the human factor....

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