{"id":77652,"date":"2024-08-27T02:59:32","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T08:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/?p=77652"},"modified":"2024-08-27T02:59:32","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T08:59:32","slug":"be-hard-to-steal-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/27\/be-hard-to-steal-from\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Hard To Steal From"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

Be Hard To Steal From<\/a><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

The recent\u00a0National Public Data breach<\/a>\u00a0impacted millions of Americans, including me. \u00a0Here’s what I am doing about it, and I encourage you to take similar steps.<\/h2>\n

As we continue to read reports of cyber attacks and data breaches, it’s becoming more critical for prepared citizens to improve their cyber hygiene and protect their information. \u00a0Don’t have a plethora of ham radios, get home bags and firearms to protect yourself only to have to deal with identity theft later.<\/h2>\n

Fortunately, my identity wasn’t stolen, but my social security number is now out there. \u00a0I admit I should have done some of this a long time ago. \u00a0I’m fortunate to have the chance to still fix this without having to deal with identity theft.<\/h2>\n

I’ll start with an admonition:\u00a0none of these recommendations are bullet proof.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0But they do create significant barriers to stealing your identity or impacting your credit. \u00a0The idea here is to make it sufficiently difficult that the bad guy moves on to an easier target.<\/h2>\n

Step One: Go to all four credit bureaus and freeze your credit. \u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To set this up for these credit reporting agencies, it will take you about ten minutes total. \u00a0Here are the direct links to do so:<\/h2>\n

TransUnion<\/a><\/h2>\n

Experian<\/a><\/h2>\n

Equifax<\/a><\/h2>\n

Innovis<\/a>*<\/h2>\n

*This is a lesser known one; Consumer Reports\u00a0recommends<\/a>\u00a0freezing your credit with them as well.<\/h2>\n

Make sure you save the passwords to these accounts, as you will need to log back into “unfreeze” them if you need to get a loan.<\/h2>\n

Then, log back into these accounts to verify a freeze is actually in place.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0When I set these up for a couple of them, the freeze wasn’t automatically turned on when I set up the account. \u00a0Go back into the account and make sure the freeze is turned on. \u00a0If it isn’t, turn them on. \u00a0(It’s easy to turn it on once you’re in the account.)<\/h2>\n

Freezes are free to do. \u00a0You can unfreeze your credit simply by logging back in and toggling from “freeze” to “unfreeze.” \u00a0Some of these agencies will let you provide a window of dates for your credit to remain unfrozen if you’re applying for a loan within a given window of time.<\/h2>\n

Step Two: Subscribe to an ID Threat Protection provider. \u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I am currently using\u00a0Experian IdentityWorks<\/a>\u00a0as I was given a free multi-year subscription due to a previous data breach. \u00a0It works well, but it’s not cheap – $24.99 per month for an individual or $34.99 for a family per month. \u00a0It’s the service that alerted me my SSN was part of the National Public Data breach. \u00a0Having said that, I would likely consider signing on for another subscription.<\/h2>\n

I’ve identified two other providers which may be of interest to you:<\/h2>\n

Zander Insurance<\/a>, recommended by Dave Ramsey, for only $130 a year which includes home title monitoring.<\/h2>\n

Aura<\/a>, which\u00a0Forbes ranked number one<\/a>\u00a0in a recent survey of ID threat protection providers. \u00a0Currently available for only nine dollars a month and also includes home title monitoring. \u00a0I’ve signed up for this as a belt and suspenders approach.<\/h2>\n

A word on “home title locks”<\/em><\/h2>\n

There is no such thing as a “title lock.” \u00a0It is a monitoring service for your home title. \u00a0Read more about it here<\/a>. \u00a0Furthermore, the company “Home Title Lock” has been the subject of attorney general\u00a0investigations<\/a>.<\/h2>\n

Step Three: Use a Password Manager<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I’ve been using one for a few years now, and my only regret is not using one sooner. \u00a0It generates passwords for your various logins and then saves them. \u00a0You only need to know your master password. \u00a0I use\u00a0Dashlane<\/a>, recommended\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/h2>\n

Step Four: Turn on Two Factor Authentication (2FA) As Much As Practical<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I’m a big fan of 2FA, although I do get annoyed sometimes when I have to wait for a text code when trying to log into something. \u00a0You’re likely using 2FA right now on several apps or websites already – anytime where you have to get a code texted to you to enter as part of the login process is an example of 2FA. \u00a0It adds a layer of security to your accounts, making it harder to hack into them.<\/h2>\n

To the extent it’s practical to add 2FA to your logins – especially ones involving your bank and other financial institutions – I suggest you do so.<\/h2>\n

Again:\u00a0none of these are bullet proof.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0By throwing up more road blocks for the bad guy, the hope is they will move on to a victim not as prepared as you. \u00a0As our friends in the self \u00a0defense community are fond of saying, “be hard to kill.” \u00a0In this instance, be hard to steal from, too.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Be Hard To Steal From   The recent\u00a0National Public Data breach\u00a0impacted millions of Americans, including me. \u00a0Here’s what I am doing about it, and I encourage you to take similar steps. As we continue to read reports of cyber attacks and data breaches, it’s becoming more critical for prepared citizens to improve their cyber hygiene…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2122,13,74,4445,5653,1317,4912,4126,883,3986,398,399,483,484],"tags":[8490,6918,16600,17888,17887,7064,17886,8989],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77652"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77654,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77652\/revisions\/77654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}