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Who’s in Your Wallet? Here’s What to Do About the Capital One Hack

John Kogan

2 min read

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Capital One announced a massive data breach yesterday. Approximately 100 million people in the United States and six million more in Canada are affected. About 140,000 Social Security numbers, one million Canadian Social Insurance numbers, and 80,000 bank account numbers are compromised. Here’s what to do about the Capital One hack.

If you’re a Capital One customer worried about your data, there are immediate steps you can take to safeguard your personal information.

1.   Prepare – Capital One Bank says it will notify everyone who was affected by the breach and offer them free credit monitoring and identity protection services.

Take advantage of those services.

2. Review your account – Look over your credit card and banking statements, and report any suspicious activity to the bank as soon as possible.

If you find suspicious activity on your credit card, call Capital One immediately to freeze your card so that purchases can no longer be made.  You can do this online or by calling the bank.

3. Freeze your credit – Only take this step if you think your account(s) have been compromised.  Taking this step means that no one will be able to access your credit reports without your permission. In other words, if someone tries to take out a loan in your name, banks can’t review your report so they won’t authorize the credit.

Be aware that this could lead to inconveniences.

4. Prepare for Scams –  Don’t respond to phone calls or emails from creditors. Always call creditors using the phone number you find on the legitimate website.

When entering credit card or other personal information, make sure to check that you’re only visiting secure sites when browsing the web. Sites beginning with https:// indicates the site is using HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) and is secure.

Remember, a data breach like this could happen to anyone, anywhere.

Questions about how to keep your data safe or what to do about the Capital One hack? Send them to us and we’ll connect you with a security analyst who specializes in your industry.