How can I tell if my social security number was stolen and what can I do about it?

BY TODD SWARTZMAN
Chief Information Security Officer

I was presenting this week on Steps a Business can Take to Reduce their Cybersecurity Risks and a question came up that I didn’t have a good answer for: How can I tell if my social security number was stolen and what can I do about it?

I thought about the question later that evening and decided to do some research the next morning. Here is what I learned:

“HOW CAN I TELL IF MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER HAS BEEN STOLEN?”

It seems that monitoring your credit reports and/or signup for ID theft protection are the only options currently available. There isn’t a way to tell before a notification happens, so the following are ways to monitor your identity proactively:

• IDENTITY THEFT PROTECTION SERVICES
  These services can help prevent or alert you someone is trying to use your identity. Unfortunately, they require the bad actors to try and do something with your information before knowing if you have been breached. If your information is exposed in a data breach and you’re offered ID theft protection for free, take advantage, it can’t hurt and might help.

• CHECK YOUR CREDIT REPORT
  Since any use of your information to try and secure new credit will show up, its good to check your credit on an on going basis. You can get a free credit report from all three credit reporting bureaus from this website: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ or call 1-877-322-8228. This is the only authorized website to get your free annual credit reports that you are entitled to by law. {As you might imagine, scam sites abound offering “free” credit reports that are not legitimate.}

• REVIEW YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY STATEMENT
  If you don’t have an account, now would be an excellent time to set one up so that YOU control that and not some future identity thief.

 PROACTIVE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF:

• Minimize who you provide your Social Security Number to in the first place!
  Many organizations ask for your social when they just don’t need it. Your doctor’s office, public and private schools are good examples of places that don’t need your ssn to provide services. They can ask, and you can say “no thank you.” So far, no one bats an eye when I refuse to provide them this information that they have no legitimate use for (and, let’s be honest here, many places aren’t good at protecting this very sensitive information)

• If you suspect that any identify theft has occurred:

  • Contact local law enforcement ( a necessary step) to obtain a police report.

  • Contact the FTC, Federal Trade Commission, 1-877-438-4338 or online at https://www.ftc.gov  or their identity theft reporting site: https://www.identitytheft.gov/#/ 

  • IC3.gov is another place you can report the problem, the FBI monitors this one.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Tips - https://www.identitytheft.gov/#/Info-Lost-or-Stolen you can open up each relevant section for some excellent advice based upon your situation