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A recent hack of a company called National Public Data, which does background checks, exposed the personal information of nearly 3 billion people.
So should you be checking websites that claim to be able to tell you if your data, including your Social Security number, was part of the breach?
“I think it’s OK, but make sure to go to a link from a trusted source,” said Rob Shavell, CEO of DeleteMe.com.
Sites such as haveibeenpwned.com or Pentester are trusted resources to help you determine if your information is safe. But Shavell said it may be better to assume your data was part of the breach.
“I think the best thing to do is make sure you have second-factor authentication tied to all your key accounts,” Shavell said.
Once you do that, he said freezing your credit is the next step.
“So if somebody tries to check your credit, take out a loan in your name using your Social (Security number) and other personally identifiable information about you, a credit freeze ensures that’s not going to happen automatically without you knowing about it,” he said.
Shavell said it’s only going to get harder to protect yourself as artificial intelligence gets smarter. Things such as antivirus software and credit monitoring services won’t be all that helpful, he said.
“What I’m suggesting is all of those tools are part of the past,” he added.
Shavell said the future is about context, and AI understands your Social Security number is tied to all your other important data, such as your phone number or address, which can be used to create models that use your data and do all kinds of bad things with it.
“We’re going to have to be more vigilant and less trustful about the ways we’ve exchanged personally identifiable information,” he said.