We covered the IRS data breach earlier this week, but I haven’t mentioned the hacking incident of Ashley Madison, a website that facilitates adultery. Last month, hackers managed to steal the user names, passwords, and even credit card info for 32 million users of the site. Here’s an article from Wired.com.
Given that the “social network” is a hub for cheating spouses, this will have ramifications far beyond the usual identity theft.
This will lead to many, many instances of identity theft.
In case you haven’t heard, the IRS was hacked. The number of taxpayers affected keeps changing, but right now it’s at about 400,000. It may go up further as more information comes out.
Here’s a decent write-up of what happened.
And here’s what you can take away:
You know tax scams are getting seriously out of hand when a criminal posing as an IRS agent calls one of the country’s top tax-crime fighters, hoping to scare him into sending money.
Yet that’s exactly what happened to Timothy Camus, the deputy inspector general for investigations at the agency that oversees the IRS.
Oh, the irony.
Identity theft was the top complaint reported to the FTC in the last year, beating out even debt collectors. From CNN:
There’s no doubt it’s a scary situation when it happens. If a criminal gets his hands on some personal information, it can wreak havoc on your life. You might find mysterious charges on your credit card. Or a thief could file a tax return in your name, getting a bogus refund before you even know it.
None of this is a surprise. Massive data breaches that could lead to identity theft keep coming and, most recently, hackers hit insurance giant Anthem, stealing information on tens of millions of customers.
Hackers are almost always one step ahead of cybersecurity. And besides, there’s enough low-hanging fruit in the form of businesses that have your personal information on file, but don’t even bother to invest in top-of-the-line security to safeguard it. If you haven’t had your identity stolen yet, you probably will. Identity theft is increasingly becoming just another part of modern life that people will have to deal with.
When people talk about identity theft, they usually mean one thing: someone getting your name, birthday, and social security number. With this information, they then apply for credit in your name. They keep the money, and you’re stuck with the bill (and the bad credit).
That’s the fastest way for identity thieves to make a quick buck, and your credit monitoring is your first line of defense. With credit monitoring, you’ll get an alert every time someone applies for credit in your name.
But there are other kinds of identity theft that don’t show up anywhere on your credit report and can be just as damaging. Here’s what you need to know:
