Hackers Get 45000 Identities From FAA Computer
Have you gotten a letter telling you that your personal information has been stolen in a security breach? If you have, you're not alone. Identity thieves are at it again and have managed to hack into computers at the FAA – Federal Aviation Administration. They got 45,000+ employee information including social security numbers.
That's serious.
I hate to think that such a high profile government site could be hacked, but that just shows you how sophisticated identity theft has become. This feels like a sub-plot from the TV show '24'.
Some of the employees have said they immediately signed up with LifeLock.
I imagine all the employees will get some kind of free credit monitoring because that's the usual type of 'protection' given to most victims of a data/security breach. The problem with that is you'll only get an alert after someone uses your information. Then, you're on your own to fix it.
LifeLock's services are pro-active and help to prevent someone from using your information. If a thief did manage to steal your identity, LifeLock will fix the problem for you. For me, that's the biggest appeal of their coverage. I have enough going on in my life to keep track of without having to worry about fixing identity theft.
At the very least, all FAA employees should immediately put a fraud alert on their credit files. It's free and easy. Just contact one of the credit bureaus and they will contact the other two about it. A security freeze is more secure than a fraud alert but it's not free and can be difficult to use if you'll be wanting to open any new lines of credit or even change cell phone carriers.
The difference between a fraud alert and a security freeze.
