Earlier this year, from mid-May to July, an estimated 143 million consumers were affected by Equifax’s recently reported data breach of personal information.
Two professors from the Unversity’s Harbert College of Business, John Jahera and Casey Cegielski, explained these situations are multifaceted and require quick action, and offered advice for protecting personal information.
“[Cybercriminals] can get your personal information and apply for a credit card in your name without you knowing about it,” Jahera said. “They can do a whole host of things once they get your information.”
Jahera suggested monitoring personal credit card statements, checking account balances and making sure that any tax filings are your own.
“I am afraid that what we will see next tax season is more returns filed fraudulently,” Jahera said. “ There’s not a whole lot you can do until that happens, but people have to be prepared to prove who they are.”
Cegielski noted that credit-monitoring organizations like Equifax actively engage in proactive cybersecurity.
“Active testing, persistent monitoring and ongoing remediation are all generally accepted practices that help reduce the likelihood of occurrence,” Cegielski said. “The threat landscape is in constant flux and thus, organizations must actively monitor their exposures.”
He also said while this can help cybersecurity, information is still not totally safe.
“This is a point that a lot of folks fail to grasp–there is no system immune to attack and compromise,” Cegielski said. “All systems have vulnerabilities that can be exploited.”
The threat is not exclusive to credit bureaus, online shopping businesses can be affected too according to Cegielski. He said all systems are connected and share data from a common data warehouse, so accessing sensitive data only requires one link to be compromised.
“One thing that all organizations need to do is plan to fund the security better; too many organizations do not have adequate resources to address their current need for security,” Cegielski said. “The only thing they can do at this stage is try to make sure that they review all of their systems to have the proper safeguards against this happening again and communicate with the millions of customers to the highest degree possible.”
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