Buzz
The scale of the Equifax breach is difficult to grasp—millions of Social Security numbers were compromised—and by now, you're probably in the habit of monitoring your credit and freezing your reports. But it’s not just your personal details at risk; hackers might also have stolen your credit card information.
Consumerist points out that 200,000 credit card numbers were also stolen in the hack:
Krebs on Security
secured a confidential alert
from Visa and MasterCard, which was sent to financial institutions, and the information is quite detailed. Normally, fraud alerts issued after payment data breaches are vague and don’t specify individual customers, but in the case of the Equifax breach, the card networks had more precise details. They were able to identify which customers’ cards had been compromised and shared that information with banks. They also confirmed that the card numbers were taken from Equifax.
As the site notes, it’s easy to forget this fact when our most sensitive personal information is stolen, but hackers could have your credit card numbers and expiration dates, and that’s enough data to cause significant damage.
While you’re taking steps to protect yourself with credit monitoring, fraud alerts, and freezes, remember to add “check credit card statements” to your routine and watch for any unauthorized charges. You should be doing this anyway, of course, but now is a great time to remind you to review your statements carefully and keep an eye on your spending.
