Steps to protect yourself from identity theft after massive social security data breach

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A data breach involving billions of records, including social security numbers, has consumer advocates urgently sounding an alarm. If you haven't taken steps to protect yourself from identity theft yet, experts say you need to do so immediately.

The hackers may have stolen and posted every American's social security number.

According to a class-action lawsuit, a hacking group claimed in April to have stolen personal records of nearly three billion people from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, staffing agencies, and others who do background checks.

The hackers allegedly tried to sell the data but have now posted most of it for free online.

"Really just focusing on freezing my credit scores and changing my passwords and staying safe," said Gregory Luehrs of Wynnewood.



And, that is exactly what you should do if you haven't already, according to expert Rob D'Ovidio.

"We're really concerned because of social security information is was allegedly compromised address information all going back 30 years," D'Ovidio said.

So what else should you do?

D'Ovidio said you should put a freeze on your credit report with the three major credit bureaus - Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. That way criminals cannot take out loans or open up financial accounts or credit cards under your name.

Also, check your credit report. You can do that for free with each of the credit bureaus.



"I even urge parents to do this for the kids," he said.

Also, if you can, sign up for a free credit monitoring service. If not, put a fraud alert on your account with the credit bureaus.

"If someone's going to open an account in your name, and they've run a credit check to do that, you get alerted, and you have to approve that account," he added.

Google and Experian can scan the dark web for your information to see whether it's out there.

You can also try a free tool from the cybersecurity company Pentester that offers to search for your information in the breached National Public Data files.



Finally, make sure all of your accounts require two-factor authentication to log in.

We reached out to National Public Data Base about the hack but, so far, they have not responded to the Troubleshooters for comment.

For more information:

ID Protection Tips: IdentityTheft.gov
Step By Step Guide to Freezing your Credit Files: PIRG.org
National Public Data Breach Check: NPD.pentester.com