September 7th, 2017, Equifax, the oldest of the three major U.S. credit bureaus announced that it had been breached. From mid-May through July 29th, attackers had access to certain Equifax data by exploiting a website application vulnerability. The exposed data includes records of 143 million people, and consists of names, addresses, birth dates and social security numbers. Additionally, approximately 209,000 credit card numbers were exposed. Due to the high number of U.S. individuals affected by this breach, Equifax has decided to offer complementary credit card monitoring for all U.S. consumers for one year. The enrollment for this service ends on November 21, 2017.
For more information about the breach and how to sign up for the credit monitoring, visit https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com by copying and pasting the link into your browser's URL bar. This process of visiting the site will ensure that you don't visit one of the numerous phishing websites that have been created with similar-looking URLs.
The IT Security Office recommends signing up for this service ASAP. We also recommend being vigilant in monitoring your current accounts to ensure that there aren't any unauthorized transactions. Additionally, due to the nature of the information exposed, be cautious of any emails or phone calls that you were not expecting, and which ask you for personal information.
