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Identity theft is on the rise, and people need to be continually aware of where threats can originate. Recently, Adobe became just another business in the long line of hacking victims that could end up with your personal information being put into the wrong hands. When it comes to protecting your personal information, there are steps you should be taking to help keep it private, but that is not always easy when circumstances arise that take the protection of your information out of your hands. Here are some identity theft protection tips to follow should your information be exposed to people who do not have your best intentions in mind. What Information Was Compromised During the hack of Adobe’s servers, 2.9 million accounts were exposed. This means that the personal information of nearly three million people may have fallen into the wrong hands. This includes full names, debit or credit card information including the card's expiration date, and passwords that are used for Adobe's services. Some people even had their source codes accessed, which means other people may have access to your account. All of this information could add up to identity theft. Adobe is trying to make things right with potential victims by offering some sort of credit monitoring for 12 months, but each person is being contacted individually. Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft One of the most important identity theft prevention tips anyone can have is knowledge. Knowing what can happen to information that is left in the wrong hands, knowing how to protect your personal information, and knowing what you need to do to start remedying the situation are all ways where you can help control the situation. You should go through and immediately change any of the passwords that are the same as what may have been compromised during the Adobe hack so that the hackers or identity thieves cannot access any of your information that has the same password. You should also make sure that you are monitoring your credit. This can help you see any changes to your credit quicker than if you only check your credit report once a year. Always keeping your personal information to yourself is a great rule to live by, and should be a consistent way of life. Recovering after Identity Theft If your information was compromised during the hack on Adobe's servers and you have already learned that your identity was stolen, there are a few things you should do. First, you need to contact the three major credit reporting agencies to contact are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to learn how to put a freeze on your credit report. This can help you avoid having new lines of credit opened in your name. Next you should contact the FCC and the local authorities and file an official report. Since your credit card and banking information may have been compromised during this hack, you should have no problem getting all of the necessary fields of your report filled in. From there, you need to contact each of the lenders who extended lines of credit in your name without your permission. Each will likely have a different route you need to take to clear this situation up, so make sure you keep accurate notes so that you do not get different companies mixed up. With identity theft statistics showing the dramatic rise in identity theft over the last decade, this hack was only one step in the line of how your information could be at risk. For those who fell victim to Adobe's hack, or any other system failure, make sure you are keeping your personal information as protected as possible and make sure to keep a close eye on your credit. The sooner you notice anything amiss, the less likely you are to have to spend countless hours recovering from identity theft and the damage that can follow. Just remember, the more you know, the safer your credit and your identity are now and in the future. Knowledge is very important when preventing identity theft, so arm yourself with all of the information you can to try and keep your information in the right hands – yours. Joy Mali is an active finance blogger who is fond of sharing interesting finance management tips to encourage people to manage their personal finances. More specifically, she advocates that people should check credit reports and scores regularly.
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