Attorney General Has Data Breach Tips

Georgia’s Attorney General Chris Carr is offering some tips on what to do in light of the recent Equifax data breach.

The recent data breach at Equifax, one of the nation’s three major credit reporting agencies, has exposed the personal information of over 143 million Americans and approximately 5 million Georgians.

Even if your information was not compromised in this particular hack, data breaches have become so prevalent these days that it is necessary to take extra precautions in order to prevent becoming a victim.

Carr said the first thing you should consider in the wake of the nation’s most recent data breach is freezing your credit on all three credit reporting Web sites.

Additionally, the Office of the Attorney General recommends checking your credit reports, monitoring your credit cards and bank accounts and filing your taxes early.

Carr said filing your taxes early, (as soon as you have all the information you need), is one of the best ways to protect yourself from tax identity theft.

After a breach, a scammer may commit tax identity theft by using your Social Security number to file a tax return and steal your tax refund.

Most victims don’t find out about the fraud until they go to file their tax returns and are informed that someone has already filed a return using their Social Security number.

For more general information on how to protect your identity, you can go online to www.identitytheft.ga.gov.