Data Breach - Hacking - Cyber Attacks; Where Does This End?

[emtee]

Looking for discussion and input.

To date, my wife and I have received 9 letters of data breach notification. I've kept all of them.

The latest debacle with uncountable millions of SSN's and other data stolen.

Can't even count the number of ransomware attacks in places I know well or have done business with. The 3 latest; city of Flint. McClaren hospital system, based in Flint. Toho water here in Florida.

Just curious, where does all this end? Our destruction or do you see it as no big deal. It's increasingly worrisome to me that despite herculean efforts, the criminals are always one step ahead.

[El Barto]

I just got one from TM not too long ago. The thing is, every time it happens they offer to hook you up with a service that'll help prevent ID theft and help put things back together if it happens. As I see it, so long as one happens before the last protection service expires it's not the end of the world.

And the ransomware attacks end once everybody learns to backup their systems.

[Grappler]

And the ransomware attacks end once everybody learns to backup their systems.

This.  Our insurance agency backs up daily.  If we get hit with ransomware, IT rolls the system back a day.  We all lose one day's work, but the agency saves money by not paying the ransom OR by not filing a cyber liability claim.

We sell cyber liability to everyone we can think of - if you have any database of customer information, you're on the hook if a breach happens.  The policy pays for the notification costs and credit monitoring (the letters you receive) along with coverage for the policyholder for possible lawsuits because of it.

[ProfessorPeart]

The AT&T hack was the first one to ever hit me. Then Ticketbastard followed. I signed up for the services AT&T offered and discovered that AAA also offered a free service to members for monitoring. 

My wife has been hacked 5 ways to Sunday as she had her identity stolen. I lost count of how many states she 'applied' for covid relief aide from. Throw in the SBA covid loan for $20k that we are contesting with the government right now. My wife is a disabled bipolar woman. She is not opening a small business with covid money. Nothing about our house or cars even says we came into $20k. Her credit has been completely frozen for years now. I honestly wouldn't mind if the normal procedure would be to just freeze everyone's credit and do a kind of 2 factor authentication type of check when you actually try to use it.

[hunnus2000]

It's a "brave new world" we live in.

[hefdaddy42]

Where does it end?  Unfortunately, that's become kind of like asking "Earthquakes and hurricanes - where do they end?"

[ProfessorPeart]

Welp, my social security number got nailed in the breach. A firm has launched a website that allows you to check your info. I found every single one of my past addresses with my social tied to every single one of them. The only one not in the list is where I am now and I have been here for 17 years. This means the 2 biggest breaches that have hit me are for data that was 17-20+ years old. They got my DoB too. There needs to be some sort of rule on purging this data.

Just froze all my credit.

Anyway, if you want to check if you've joined the club:

https://npd.pentester.com/

Jeez, just saw this as well.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/08/national-public-data-published-its-own-passwords/

[Anguyen92]

Ok, just gave a check in the 1st link.  I'm safe for now.  I guess I'll take a look at the credit report and make sure everything is still good.

[Cool Chris]

Anyway, if you want to check if you've joined the club:

https://npd.pentester.com/

I'm near the point now of being too paranoid to put any info in any website, even a site that will verify if my info has been compromised.

[ProfessorPeart]

I'm near the point now of being too paranoid to put any info in any website, even a site that will verify if my info has been compromised.

Totally agree. Had I been unsure I would have skipped it. I got this site from Fortune. Since all they wanted was first/last/state and birth year, I was fine with that. Can't do much with that info. Maybe you can. Who knows anymore.

[El Barto]

I'm near the point now of being too paranoid to put any info in any website, even a site that will verify if my info has been compromised.

Yep. Unless I'm applying for a credit card or renewing my license I'm not putting my name and birth date anywhere on the interwebs.

[cramx3]

I can't count how many times I've gotten a letter in the mail.  I'm sure my SS is out there now too.  I feel like there's nothing you can do, as a consumer, beyond stay off the web completely.  I hate saying it, but I like, don't even care anymore.  Of course until someone steals my identity, but do I trust that any of these free services that they offer will actually do anything beyond me just doing my typical monitoring of my accounts and reporting of anything suspicious (Hasn't happened to me, yet)? I'm numb to it like a lot of the BS in life these days, sadly.

[Grappler]

I can't count how many times I've gotten a letter in the mail.  I'm sure my SS is out there now too.  I feel like there's nothing you can do, as a consumer, beyond stay off the web completely.  I hate saying it, but I like, don't even care anymore.  Of course until someone steals my identity, but do I trust that any of these free services that they offer will actually do anything beyond me just doing my typical monitoring of my accounts and reporting of anything suspicious (Hasn't happened to me, yet)? I'm numb to it like a lot of the BS in life these days, sadly.

That's where I'm at - and I am generally very safe on the web.  I did just sign up for credit monitoring via the Ticketmaster breach.  We'll see how that goes.

I've had my credit card info stolen 2-3 times, but that's all. 

[Stadler]

I can't count how many times I've gotten a letter in the mail.  I'm sure my SS is out there now too.  I feel like there's nothing you can do, as a consumer, beyond stay off the web completely.  I hate saying it, but I like, don't even care anymore.  Of course until someone steals my identity, but do I trust that any of these free services that they offer will actually do anything beyond me just doing my typical monitoring of my accounts and reporting of anything suspicious (Hasn't happened to me, yet)? I'm numb to it like a lot of the BS in life these days, sadly.

Marc, you and me, pal.  I'm sort of playing the numbers game; there are 331 million people in the US, more if you count the deceased, and if they pick mine, well, it's like the lottery, you win some and you lose some.  I think there's only so much that can be done, and as I've found out with the passing of my father two years ago (I still get emails to him and notices from the credit reporting agencies) none of it really matters in the end.

[hefdaddy42]

My Dad passed in 2010.  I still occasionally get junk mail addressed to him.

[lordxizor]

I don't really care anymore either. I get like three different emails and a text or two every time I open a new credit account, so I expect I'll know instantly if anyone tries anything too nefarious in my name.