"Home Depot has confirmed that its six-month long breach compromised approximately 56 million credit and debit cards, making it the largest retail card breach in history.
The compromised cards were used mainly at registers in the self check-out lanes at Home Depot stores throughout the U.S. and Canada, according to a report by security journalist Brian Krebs who first broke the story of the Home Depot breach."
What Is the Cost of a Data Breach?
"Studies show that individuals who receive a data breach notification letter are more than four times as likely to become victims of identity theft. In addition, average out-of-pocket costs are over 200% higher for victims of data breach.1"
Information thieves can collect:
- Email addresses
- Street addresses
- Social Security numbers
- Credit Card or bank
account numbers - Health information
What thieves can do with this information:
- Identity theft
- Employment-related fraud
- Loan fraud/payday loan fraud
- Bank fraud
- Benefits fraud
- Tax fraud
- Other identity fraud
You may remember back over the summer I shared a post about personal identity theft and introduced you all to LifeLock and their services. As a thank you for sharing about LifeLock I was given a year's membership to their protection service. And, boy has this membership come in handy. Not only do I get alerts when a credit card company looks at my credit report or inquires on my credit, but when there are date breaches like the one at Home Depot, LifeLock is the first to notify me.
Want to know what is scary? LifeLock was the first to notify me of the Home Depot data beach, and gave me steps to check and see if my credit was compromised. They also offered up useful tips to protect me and my credit from potential future data breaches, which seem to be happening more frequently nowadays. A week after I was notified by email and phone from LifeLock, I received a generic letter in the mail from Home Depot explaining what had happened. A little late, as the story broke on television and was all the buzz on the Internet prior to their letter arriving.
Home Depot offered free identity protection services for those who may have used their payment systems from April onward. But, after experiencing a similar data breach last year with Target, I found that this so-called free identity protection service is not really free. Yes, they check your credit reports for you, but if you want to continue with the service or get added protection, it will cost you. So much for showing your loyalty and support to your customers for a data breach that could result in a identity theft, unauthorized charges, etc.
Ever since enrolling in the LifeLock program, I have been able to breath a little easier, knowing that they are there 24/7 watching over my personal credit information, as well as informing when about potential harm including notifying me when a sex offender moves into the area. Little extras like this make me love LifeLock and want to rave about their services with family and friends.
LifeLock Provides 3 Layers of Protection
- 1. Detect
"We monitor over a trillion data points 24/7/365, searching for identity threats to our members. - 2. Alert
With the patented LifeLock Identity Alert® system, as soon as we detect a threat to your identity you’ll be notified by text, phone or email, to help stop criminals before they do damage to your identity.† ** - 3. Restore
If your identity is ever compromised, our Certified Resolution Specialists will handle your case every step of the way. And it’s all backed by our $1 Million Total Service Guarantee.‡
LifeLock membership protects you in ways credit monitoring, banks and credit card companies just can’t. It’s protection beyond what you can provide by yourself. Enrollment takes only minutes and your protection starts immediately."
With the recent Home Depot Breach, while I knew I had shopped during the time that the hacks occurred, I felt confident in knowing that LifeLock was doing everything they could to monitor my credit and would notify me if they began seeing unusual charges and transactions post to my accounts. And, like I shared earlier a data breach like this one oftentimes results in identity theft. In addition to the email and phone calls I received informing me of the Home Depot Data Breach, the folks at LifeLock took to their blog and social media channels to provides tips to consumers on ways that they can protect themselves and what to look for as a result of this data breach.
"When news of a potential Home Depot breach was released, LifeLock shared these tips to help better protect consumers against identity theft as a result of a date breach:
- Monitor your transactions: Keep an eye on the activity on your credit and debit card accounts, looking for any charges that don’t seem to be yours.
- Report suspicious transactions immediately: If you see a card transaction—even a small one—that doesn’t look right, contact the card issuer immediately. The phone number is on the back of your card.
- Order a new debit card: If you believe your debit card number was compromised, don’t wait for fraudulent charges to start appearing on your statement. Request a new card from your bank. This way, you reduce the chances of a criminal depleting your bank account, and you avoid potential challenges in recovering your funds. Credit cards offer more protection and less risk because funds are not directly withdrawn from your bank account as they are with a debit card.
- Follow the story: Investigation of this crime is still under way. Watch for news and communication from Home Depot.
- Consider using an identity protection service: LifeLock provides identity protection products and services you can count on. In fact, with LifeLock Advantage™ and LifeLock Ultimate Plus™, we can help you detect fraudulent activity with alerts for cash withdrawals, balance transfers and large purchases within our extensive network. "
You really can't put a price tag on this peace of mind. But, just think of the tens of thousands of dollars that you could be out if you don't monitor your credit cards and reports and find out too late that your identity has been stolen. You'll then find yourself spending a year or more trying to fix your credit, while expressing sleepless nights, stress, fighting with your significant other, etc.
Save yourself headaches and worrying about identity theft and what if's of things like data breaches, by enrolling in a LifeLock program today. You will be glad you did! This is definitely one investment I will be making each year, and suggesting to family and friends.
Once you enroll in LifeLock and see everything that is offered to members, you, too, will be impressed and find yourself raving about LifeLock, too!
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Find Your Influence and LifeLock. Although I will be compensated for my time, all views shared on my blog and social media channels are mine and mine alone.
I am very close to signing up for this I am tired of stressing about my personal data online.
ReplyDeleteheather [email protected]