Equifax Breach. How safe are your ID, Credit, Finances?

PJ_Soul

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I don't know if it's true for all the millions of Americans just because there are so many of them, but I heard that Equifax would be sending a letter to the appx 100,000 Canadians whose info was compromised.

I kind of doubt we will hear from them.  They kept this thing buried here as much as possible. As if it already wasn't difficult enough to trust of financial institutions!  I'm seriously looking at buying more silver than the little I have already.

Who knows. I assumed Americans wouldn't hear from them just because of the sheer number of Americans affected... I mean, 100M+... isn't that just about everyone with a credit rating?? Seems like if you're American, you should just assume that your info was breached. I know that, again for Canadians affected, they will automatically be red flagging those people's credit, so that there is extra security if anyone tries to apply for new credit products with those people's info. Again, I doubt this is possible for Americans because there are too many of them, but I don't know.

You never know.  As much junk mail gets shoved on us down here what another several million pieces to bolster the USPS?!

Well, it wouldn't be junk mail. It would have to be personalized for everyone I should think - I.e., they'd have to address them individually to only those actually affected and possibly personalize each letter too. It's not an easy feat to say the least once you have to unexpectedly have to send specific info to 100 million specific people, as opposed to junk mail, which isn't even usually addressed at all, beyond maybe "Resident" at all listed addresses. I mean, the IRS does it... but they are set up to do that; it's already written into their budget too. Just the cost of Equifax doing it alone would be crazy... what? All things considered, it would probably cost them at least half a billion dollars.

brianlux

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I don't know if it's true for all the millions of Americans just because there are so many of them, but I heard that Equifax would be sending a letter to the appx 100,000 Canadians whose info was compromised.

I kind of doubt we will hear from them.  They kept this thing buried here as much as possible. As if it already wasn't difficult enough to trust of financial institutions!  I'm seriously looking at buying more silver than the little I have already.

Who knows. I assumed Americans wouldn't hear from them just because of the sheer number of Americans affected... I mean, 100M+... isn't that just about everyone with a credit rating?? Seems like if you're American, you should just assume that your info was breached. I know that, again for Canadians affected, they will automatically be red flagging those people's credit, so that there is extra security if anyone tries to apply for new credit products with those people's info. Again, I doubt this is possible for Americans because there are too many of them, but I don't know.

You never know.  As much junk mail gets shoved on us down here what another several million pieces to bolster the USPS?!

Well, it wouldn't be junk mail. It would have to be personalized for everyone I should think - I.e., they'd have to address them individually to only those actually affected and possibly personalize each letter too. It's not an easy feat to say the least once you have to unexpectedly have to send specific info to 100 million specific people, as opposed to junk mail, which isn't even usually addressed at all, beyond maybe "Resident" at all listed addresses. I mean, the IRS does it... but they are set up to do that; it's already written into their budget too. Just the cost of Equifax doing it alone would be crazy... what? All things considered, it would probably cost them at least half a billion dollars.

I was being a bit facetious about the junk mail thing but now that I think of it, here in America, most of those letters would just get tossed anyway.  I think the right thing for them to have done was, rather than bury the issue the way they did, be honest and forthright and get the press to push the news more.  They have the power to do that.  But financial institutions in America do not exist to benefit the general public.  They exist merely to extract as much from the people as possible.  Maybe the same is true in Canada?

PJ_Soul

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I don't know if it's true for all the millions of Americans just because there are so many of them, but I heard that Equifax would be sending a letter to the appx 100,000 Canadians whose info was compromised.

I kind of doubt we will hear from them.  They kept this thing buried here as much as possible. As if it already wasn't difficult enough to trust of financial institutions!  I'm seriously looking at buying more silver than the little I have already.

Who knows. I assumed Americans wouldn't hear from them just because of the sheer number of Americans affected... I mean, 100M+... isn't that just about everyone with a credit rating?? Seems like if you're American, you should just assume that your info was breached. I know that, again for Canadians affected, they will automatically be red flagging those people's credit, so that there is extra security if anyone tries to apply for new credit products with those people's info. Again, I doubt this is possible for Americans because there are too many of them, but I don't know.

You never know.  As much junk mail gets shoved on us down here what another several million pieces to bolster the USPS?!

Well, it wouldn't be junk mail. It would have to be personalized for everyone I should think - I.e., they'd have to address them individually to only those actually affected and possibly personalize each letter too. It's not an easy feat to say the least once you have to unexpectedly have to send specific info to 100 million specific people, as opposed to junk mail, which isn't even usually addressed at all, beyond maybe "Resident" at all listed addresses. I mean, the IRS does it... but they are set up to do that; it's already written into their budget too. Just the cost of Equifax doing it alone would be crazy... what? All things considered, it would probably cost them at least half a billion dollars.

I was being a bit facetious about the junk mail thing but now that I think of it, here in America, most of those letters would just get tossed anyway.  I think the right thing for them to have done was, rather than bury the issue the way they did, be honest and forthright and get the press to push the news more.  They have the power to do that.  But financial institutions in America do not exist to benefit the general public.  They exist merely to extract as much from the people as possible.  Maybe the same is true in Canada?

Well generally I agree about the goals of the financial sector, but in Canada there has been an extreme amount of transparency since the news broke. I feel like Equifax is doing everything it can for those Canadian affected, and I know that other credit reporting entities (like the companies that make your score easy to access, for example) have been doing their part in keeping everyone informed about the situation. That said, I'm not quite clear on what the delay was in making this all public... I'm open to the idea that they simply waited until they had all the information themselves and prepared to deal with the fallout, so that citizens weren't informed about it in a slipshod kind of way. I'm not saying that's cool, but I'm not ready to just leap to any sinister conclusions either. As far as those execs who sold stock between the breach and the announcement... well, they claim that those people didn't know about the breach either. Who knows? But again, I'm not ready to jump to conclusion without evidence about it one way or the other. Frankly, I think I'm not livid about this because the main anger should be directed at the hackers, not Equifax. Nobody ever seems to be pissed off about the information thieves. I have barely even seen anyone concerned about whether or not these hackers can be caught TBH.

brianlux

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I don't know if it's true for all the millions of Americans just because there are so many of them, but I heard that Equifax would be sending a letter to the appx 100,000 Canadians whose info was compromised.

I kind of doubt we will hear from them.  They kept this thing buried here as much as possible. As if it already wasn't difficult enough to trust of financial institutions!  I'm seriously looking at buying more silver than the little I have already.

Who knows. I assumed Americans wouldn't hear from them just because of the sheer number of Americans affected... I mean, 100M+... isn't that just about everyone with a credit rating?? Seems like if you're American, you should just assume that your info was breached. I know that, again for Canadians affected, they will automatically be red flagging those people's credit, so that there is extra security if anyone tries to apply for new credit products with those people's info. Again, I doubt this is possible for Americans because there are too many of them, but I don't know.

You never know.  As much junk mail gets shoved on us down here what another several million pieces to bolster the USPS?!

Well, it wouldn't be junk mail. It would have to be personalized for everyone I should think - I.e., they'd have to address them individually to only those actually affected and possibly personalize each letter too. It's not an easy feat to say the least once you have to unexpectedly have to send specific info to 100 million specific people, as opposed to junk mail, which isn't even usually addressed at all, beyond maybe "Resident" at all listed addresses. I mean, the IRS does it... but they are set up to do that; it's already written into their budget too. Just the cost of Equifax doing it alone would be crazy... what? All things considered, it would probably cost them at least half a billion dollars.

I was being a bit facetious about the junk mail thing but now that I think of it, here in America, most of those letters would just get tossed anyway.  I think the right thing for them to have done was, rather than bury the issue the way they did, be honest and forthright and get the press to push the news more.  They have the power to do that.  But financial institutions in America do not exist to benefit the general public.  They exist merely to extract as much from the people as possible.  Maybe the same is true in Canada?

Well generally I agree about the goals of the financial sector, but in Canada there has been an extreme amount of transparency since the news broke. I feel like Equifax is doing everything it can for those Canadian affected, and I know that other credit reporting entities (like the companies that make your score easy to access, for example) have been doing their part in keeping everyone informed about the situation. That said, I'm not quite clear on what the delay was in making this all public... I'm open to the idea that they simply waited until they had all the information themselves and prepared to deal with the fallout, so that citizens weren't informed about it in a slipshod kind of way. I'm not saying that's cool, but I'm not ready to just leap to any sinister conclusions either. As far as those execs who sold stock between the breach and the announcement... well, they claim that those people didn't know about the breach either. Who knows? But again, I'm not ready to jump to conclusion without evidence about it one way or the other. Frankly, I think I'm not livid about this because the main anger should be directed at the hackers, not Equifax. Nobody ever seems to be pissed off about the information thieves. I have barely even seen anyone concerned about whether or not these hackers can be caught TBH.

Yeah, those hackers are tricky devils.  And a pain in the ass!

tweedyfanjen

Who needs Equifax when your own state government gets hacked? Our Department of Revenue has been hacked twice now.

brianlux

tweedyfanjen said:

Who needs Equifax when your own state government gets hacked? Our Department of Revenue has been hacked twice now.

What I wonder is why, besides the Dept. of Revenue, are there at least FOUR companies that track our credit so closely and put it in danger of being hacked? 

I believe becoming a cashless society is just around the corner. One of our biggest banks in town has started to charge us for making cash deposits.  Think about that:  BANKS CHARGING CUSTOMERS WHO MAKE CASH DEPOSITS.  Think about the ramifications of that.  How much less secure will our personal finances be when we become a cashless society and everything we have (other than silver and gold) will be at risk of being easily snatched away? 

stuckinline

Equifax may have been hacked again:

U.S.

Equifax may have been hacked again

When Equifax's interim CEO penned a letter of apology on The Wall Street Journal, he admitted that it will take a lot of effort to regain people's trust. Unfortunately, the company still seems to be lacking when it comes to security, because according to Ars Technica, it's been hacked yet again. Independent security analyst Randy Abrams told Ars that he was redirected to hxxp:centerbluray.info and was met with a Flash download when he went to equifax.com to contest a false info on his credit report.

brianlux

I heard the Equifax hacking affected some in Great Britain as well.  I wonder how far reaching this thing has gotten?  The wheels are coming off the world of finance.  I follow James Howard Kunstler's blog and he has predicted this kind of thing for some time now.  Time to get some better minds behind this thing or watch it fall like a house of cards.

stuckinline

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-charges-4-chinese-military-members-in-equifax-breach_n_5e417b83c5b6b708870524cc

brianlux

stuckinline said:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-charges-4-chinese-military-members-in-equifax-breach_n_5e417b83c5b6b708870524cc

I wonder if and how they can be brought to trial?