In the wake of the Equifax breach the shakeups and changes are continuing. The CEO ‘retired’ last week and is being hauled in front of Congress to explain a few things… good luck. The new CEO is making a change for the customers. In January 2018 Equifax will be offering free credit locks for customers, for life. Putting more control into the hands of the people who actually owns the data. ( I don’t care who says otherwise, it’s our data)
In an op-ed piece to the Wall Street Journal the CEO wrote –
“The service we are developing will let consumers easily lock and unlock access to their Equifax credit files,” Barros wrote. “You will be able to do this at will. It will be reliable, safe and simple. Most significantly, the service will be offered free, for life.
Wall St. Journal Link (subscription required) – https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-behalf-of-equifax-im-sorry-1506547253
This is huge on two fronts. First, I believe it’s the first step toward eliminating charging people to control their own data. Second, this is a bold move by Equifax as revenue from fees were 13% of their 2016 revenues. $400+ million from fees, think about that.
This is where the industry will be heading. The more people stand up and demand things like this about their own data, how it’s used, who gets access to it and putting control back in your hands will determine how fast it happens.
This free service isn’t new to the industry, TransUnion already offers a version of this free locking. Experian has yet to respond to their plans but in a capitalist market, they will fall in line soon enough if they want to keep customers. Competition.
If you are part of this breach the recommendation is to take advantage of the free credit monitoring that Equifax is offering and leverage your credit locks when this rolls out next year. If you aren’t planning on any new account or loan activity your credit should be locked to maximize protections.
I am certain more control services will be given down to the customers for free, cheaper costs and with no impact to your credit score.
We just have to stay on top of the news and blogs like this to keep up to date and aware.
Be aware, be safe.
End of Line.
Binary Blogger has spent 20 years in the Information Security space currently providing security solutions and evangelism to clients. From early web application programming, system administration, senior management to enterprise consulting I provide practical security analysis and solutions to help companies and individuals figure out HOW to be secure every day.
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Source: https://binaryblogger.com/2017/09/28/equifax-offering-free-credit-locks-life/
