How to Protect Your Credit After a Robinhood Data Breach
[ad_1]
Robin Hood (HOOD) – Get the Robinhood report, affected by a data breach earlier this month, admitted that millions of customer information has been exposed and a hacker has demanded an extortion payment.
The trading platform said in a statement that the November 3 attack enabled the unauthorized party to obtain a list of email addresses for around 5 million people and the full names of another group of people. ‘about 2 million people.
Robinhood said no social security number, bank account number or debit card was released and none of the clients suffered financial loss.
On Action Alerts PLUS, Chris Versace and Bob Lang say they know when to hold them and when to fold them. Find out how much game inventory they’ve cut and why with a free trial subscription to Action Alerts PLUS.
Robinhood tries to reassure its customers and the public that the breach is under control, but whether you have been affected by the breach or not, this incident is a stark reminder of the importance of protecting your personal information and your credit.
Also Read: Robinhood Crypto Wallet May Be Hot, But Data Leak Still Fires Fire
The first thing you can do is freeze your credit report. This will prevent a hacker from using your personal information to obtain credit or open accounts in your name. Keep in mind that if you need to apply for new credit, you will need to lift the freeze to apply. You will also need to contact each credit reporting agency (Equifax, Experian, and Transunion) to freeze each report.
You can also make a short-term fraud alert. It lasts a year. It’s different because instead of a generalized freeze; the creditor should contact you to verify the credit application. You only need to contact one credit reporting agency to initiate a fraud alert, they are legally obligated to share your request with other reporting agencies – and it’s free.
A third step is to hire a credit monitoring service. This will alert you to potential fraud on your credit report. When Equifax suffered a data breach in 2017, it provided those affected with free credit monitoring services for four years. Credit monitoring can alert you to fraud, but it cannot prevent it entirely. You will need to be diligent in tracking your credit and personal information to avoid fraud.
In a statement, Robinhood admitted that an unauthorized party had gained access to Robinhood’s customer support systems that provided them with the personal information. Once the information was obtained, a payment request was made and Robinhood immediately contacted law enforcement.
The company further stated that the unauthorized party was posing as an employee of the telephone customer support system. No further details on how the hack actually happened have been provided.
The company is now in the process of making “appropriate disclosures to those concerned” and continues to investigate with the help of security firm Mandiant.
Robinhood Security Director Caleb Sima said: âAs a ‘safety first’ company, we owe it to our customers to be transparent and act with integrity. After due diligence, informing the entire Robinhood community of this incident is now the right thing to do. “
Robinhood shares fell $ 1.28, or 3.4%, on Tuesday to end the regular session at $ 36.70.
[ad_2]