Another day, another data breach.
Most recently, Quest Diagnostics, a major medical-testing company, reported that a breach may have compromised not just financial and medication information but also the Social Security numbers of nearly 12 million patients.
It’s a battlefield out there, but it’s important to try to keep hackers from accessing your private data, because it can turn into a payday for identity thieves. I recently invited Jeni Rogers, author of “200+ Ways to Protect Your Privacy,” to answer reader concerns about identity theft during a live online chat. Here are her answers to some of the leftover questions she got from readers.
We have a 1-year-old. Should we freeze his credit now?
Unfortunately, young children can be victims of identity theft, and it can often go on for quite a while before it’s noticed since children don’t typically have bank accounts and credit-monitoring profiles set up to watch for red flags. I personally experienced this years ago when I was setting up utilities on my first apartment. I learned that someone in a different state had gotten ahold of my Social Security number and used it to open a number of utility accounts. Before I even lived on my own as an adult, I had thousands of dollars in unpaid debt to utility companies.
Freezing your child’s credit is a good idea. You can do so by contacting all the major credit-monitoring bureaus and requesting a freeze on their credit. You’ll have to do this in writing.
