Equifax Data Breach: What Steps to Take

Security & Fraud

The recent Equifax data breach involved 143 million Americans, including many Connexus members. The information exposed by Equifax may include names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, account numbers, and some credit card data.
Click here to see if you were affected.
You will be asked to enter your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number. Then you will be told whether your information may have been impacted. If you were impacted, we recommend the following steps:

What Steps to Take Now

  • Check your credit report. You are entitled to one free credit report every year from all three major bureaus. You can access it on annualcreditreport.com. Since this breach may have long-term effects, you should make regular credit report checks for the next few years.
  • Watch your accounts for suspicious activity. This includes any banks, credit unions, credit card companies, and hotel and airlines loyalty programs. To track your Connexus accounts, set up Account Notifications though Digital Banking. How to set them up.
  • Set up multifactor authentication and consider changing the online banking passwords for any bank or credit union you use. Hackers can use your personal information to answer the security questions to your accounts logins. Multifactor authentications keeps them from doing so by sending a text or email to the user as a secondary authentication step. More info on multifactor authentication.
  • Consider a credit freeze. A freeze will block anyone from accessing your credit reports or opening any accounts without your permission. Freezing your credit and lifting the freeze may incur up to a $10 fee. Here’s how to set a freeze for Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
  • Be extra careful about emails, links, and phone calls. Phishing scams may increase as the hackers look to obtain more information, so be cautious of links and attachments within the emails you receive. When in doubt, call the company that appears to be sending the message.

For more information on what to do, please see the infographic below created by CNBC.
What to do After a Data Breach