• The Assman
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    7 months ago

    Equifax leak. Half of Americans’ SSNs are on the dark web.

    • doctordevice@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      Yep, I’m in the unlucky half. It’s good practice anyway, but now I keep my credit frozen at all three credit bureaus unless I’m submitting an application. Doesn’t stop all fraud, but stops most of the kind that can fuck up my credit.

      • DrWeevilJammer@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        You may also want to freeze Lexis Nexis and Innovis as well - they buy and sell your data as well

        • doctordevice@lemmy.ca
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          7 months ago

          Fuck, I’ve never even heard of those. This whole system is garbage, how am I supposed to know how to protect myself from fraud when these companies just somehow automatically have authority to let thieves steal my identity? At the very least we should have a centralized government agency that you can issue a blanket freeze with. Better would be an actual proper ID system.

    • lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      That’s only from one breach. I’d wager that at least 75% of our SSNs are out there since this is constantly happening.

    • FiniteLooper@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      I mean, it’s not like an SSN is secure at all. Add 1 to your SSN and that’s most likely a completely valid number for someone else