Several clients have reached out to us in the last week concerned about the data breach from National Public Data. National Public Data is a massive database of information that companies use to run background checks and criminal records, and recently reported that a bad actor leaked nearly 3 billion records. (NPD, despite the official-sounding name, is a private for-profit company that scrapes and compiles data from multiple sources.) News of data breaches seem to be commonplace now, sadly. There’s not much we as ordinary citizens can do to stop them, but there are steps we can take to protect ourselves. First, if you think your information was stolen you should keep a close eye on your financial accounts for suspicious activity. We also recommend placing credit freezes with all three credit bureaus so loans can’t be taken out in your name. And finally, we always recommend using unique and complex passwords for your online accounts. This is a simple and extremely effective way to stop bad actors from doing damage to your accounts, your money, and you! Please reach out if we can assist with any of this.
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