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Klingman Insights
September 12th, 2017
Dear Valued Client:
Most of you have probably heard about the data security breach at Equifax that occurred over the summer and was announced late last week. As Equifax has reported that up to 143 million U.S. consumers may have been impacted, it is quite likely that your information was accessed. Equifax has said that the information accessed primarily includes Social Security Numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, driver's license numbers or credit card numbers.
Equifax has sent up a dedicated website to help people determine if their data may have been accessed, although reports in the media have raised questions about the accuracy of this information. Nonetheless, we suggest you:
Equifax is offering its credit file monitoring and identify theft protection service free for one year to any consumer, regardless of whether your personal information was compromised. While one can be reasonably skeptical about this service provided by the same firm that experienced a security breach, you may nonetheless want to take advantage of the offer (same website noted above). Alternatively, you can consider signing up for one of the paid credit monitoring services provided by firms such as LifeLock. We often recommend these services as an affordable source of added protection for wealthy individuals.
While we continue to monitor activity in your Raymond James accounts (and never transfer money without your verbal approval), we also suggest that you periodically request a free copy of your credit report from one the other credit reporting agencies: Experian, and TransUnion—at www.annualcreditreport.com. You can request a credit report from each of the agencies 1x per year (every 122 days if you rotate among the agencies).
As always, do not hesitate to let us know of any questions or comments.
Gerry