Equifax Hack: What Do We Do Now?

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By now we all know that Equifax suffered a historic data breach with criminals gaining access to sensitive personal information of an estimated 143 million Americans. "Gaining access" is the political correct way of saying they were stolen.

In addition to Social Security Numbers, birth dates, and home addresses, the intruders also obained credit card numbers, drivers license numbers, and other personal data. So, the question now is...

What do we do now?

Here are 3 ways to protect yourself and your company...

1. Setup Fraud Alerts

Placing a fraud alert is free. The initial fraud alert stays on your credit report for 90 days.

a. Contact one of the three major credit bureaus

b. Ask the company to put a fraud alert on your credit file.

c. Confirm that the company will contact the other 2 companies.

For more details, check out this link at the Federal Trade Commission: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0275-place-fraud-alert

For added protection, also set these up at your banks and credit card companies. You can also check out this helpful guide for 2018 Credit Card Protection.

2. Freeze Your Credit

The easiest way to do this is to visit www.freeze.equifax.com. This could be a pain in that you can't get any new credit when you want without first contacting the credit bureau and lifting this freez. But, it's the best way to protect yourself.

3. Keep all of your Anti-Virus and other Intrusion Prevention Service software up to date.

This means both on your company network as well as on your personal machines.

It's been reported that the Equifax hack took advantage of an Apache vulnerability which was first known about back in March, but wasn't patched till later. Which lead to the cyber criminals taking advantage of this gap in protection.

For more details on what a well protected network looks like, check out our recent blog: My Network's Secure, Right?

Well, there you have it. 3 great ways to strengthen both your personal as well as corporate security footprint.

Hopefully this info been helpful. Let us know in the Comment box below or shoot me an email if you’d like to chat about this in more detail.

Author

Craig Pollack

Craig Pollack

Craig is the Founder & CEO of FPA Technology Services, Inc. Craig provides the strategy and direction for FPA, ensuring its clients, business owners, and key decision makers leverage technology as efficiently and effectively as possible. With over 30 years of experience building the preeminent IT Service Provider in the Southern California area, Craig is one of the area’s leading authorities on how small to mid-sized businesses can best leverage and secure their technology to achieve their business objectives.

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Please join us for our official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Housewarming mixer as the West Valley Warner Center Chamber of Commerce welcomes FPA into the WVWC community of businesses.

Please join us Wednesday...

21820 Burbank Boulevard, Suite 230, Woodland Hills, CA 91367

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On behalf of everyone at FPA, we hope you, your employees and your loved ones are safe and healthy.

On Monday, March 16th, we sent an update with our response to COVID-19 and our ability to service our clients without disruption. As things are evolving quickly, we continue to actively monitor the developments of COVID-19 and adhere to the recommendations of federal agencies and local governments.

With that, we are working remotely following the mandates, including practicing social distancing, and essential-only onsite visits. With our investment over the years in our technology infrastructure, we are 100% fully functional remotely connected and are fully equipped to continue servicing our clients seamlessly, for as long as we need to, whether our offices are physically open or not. We continue to operate with a "business as usual" approach, just from a different location.

In the interim, if there is anything we can do for you, please reach out to us directly. We are thankful for the relationships we've developed with our clients over the years, so know that we are here for you. We are in this together, and together we will navigate these uncertain times.

To your health, well-being, and success!

Craig Pollack and The FPA Team

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FPA is proud to announce that 2021 marks the 30th year of providing service excellence. In 1991, Founder & CEO Craig Pollack set out with a vision to create a high quality, professional services firm. Over the course of the last 30 years, FPA's vision has become a reality. FPA has grown from a small niche integration firm to one of the leading Managed Service and Managed Security Service Providers in the Greater Los Angeles area.

This is an incredible milestone for any company, let alone one in such a constantly evolving industry. FPA has achieved success through the hard work, passion, and dedication of our team members and our 'culture of constant improvement' where 'Take Care of the Client' and 'Take Care of the Staff' are our primary Core Values.

A huge Thank You to our clients, staff, and partners who've made this achievement possible!

Stay cyber safe and here's to our mutual, continued success!

Craig Pollack and The FPA Team

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Attend our FREE Live Webinar to learn what an effective Cybersecurity User Awareness Training Program looks like, why it's important NOT to train your staff only once, and what could go wrong with an improper training program.

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Attend our FREE live webinar to learn about how cyber liability insurance fits into your overall business asset protection plan, what is and what isn’t covered under general and E&O insurance policies, and what, specifically, cyber breach insurance covers.

Introducing the Presenters:

Craig Pollack is the Founder & CEO of FPA Technology Services, Inc. With over 25 years of experience building the preeminent IT Service Provider in the Southern California area, Craig is one of the area’s leading authorities on how small to mid-sized businesses can best leverage and protect their technology.

Justin Reinmuth is the Founder & CEO of The Technology Risk Underwriting Group as well as President of McCormick & Reinmuth Insurance Agency. With over 2,500 businesses currently insured, Justin is an expert in the area of cyber insurance including cyber liability, cyber breach, and cyber crime coverage.

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The 2nd Level Everyone Needs to Know to Leverage Microsoft Teams to its Fullest!

Attend our FREE Live Webinar to help you increase your capabilities within Teams to increase your collaboration, workflow, and knowledge sharing in the “new normal”. This webinar is meant to give you the knowledge, understanding, and tips & tricks to take your use of Teams to the next level.

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1. How to create and manage your Teams.
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