Here is a reference to the Equifax breach from last year and what you can do with it. Equifax recently announced a settlement for that breach and a method to check if you information was exposed by that breach. You can check to see if your personal information was exposed here. In the most likely event that your information was exposed, you should absolutely file a claim with Equifax. Our suggestion is that you select the credit monitoring service offer.
With CapitalOne also reporting a breach, it is more important than ever to have your credit actively monitored. Here are some other services you can consider for credit monitoring.
Unfortunately, you cannot stop there. Studies show that 85% of consumers use the same passwords across multiple sites – so the same email address and password that you and your staff are using for their Amazon account, is most likely the same password they are using to log into their computers in your office. Hackers know this, and therefore are using that information to break into your networks to steal even more data, or worse, encrypt your computers and servers with ransomware.
There’s only one way to mitigate this. You must have strong security tools and procedures in place. It’s not a matter of if anymore, it’s a matter of when the attack occurs. Here are some items we suggest to our clients to help protect them against such attacks:
- Enable multi-factor authentication everywhere possible.
- Have a next generation anti-malware system in place. The traditional anti-virus products just don’t cut it anymore.
- Implement multiple layers of defense including a protection at the firewall level, DNS security, all
- Ensure that your backup and disaster recovery systems are tested weekly.
Not sure if these systems are working to best protect your business? Contact us by filling out the form on this page.