# Equifax Debackle...are you affected ???



## JPigg55 (Sep 22, 2017)

Last night I learned about the Equifax security breech and wanted to see if people here were aware.
Evidently, Equifax (one of the big 3 credit bureaus) was hacked. The hackers got the personal info of over 143 million Americans up to and including Social Security numbers, addresses, birthdays, credit card numbers, and credit history.
From what I researched, the waited 6 weeks after they found the breech before announcing it. The timeline went something like this:
Hacked in May, found out in July, and announced in September. In the time between finding out and announcing it, 3 of the top Execs (including the CFO) sold over $2 million in stock and someone (undisclosed) short sold a huge number of shares resulting in a $24 million gain. The execs claimed no knowledge of the hack when they sold their stocks...Oh really !!!
Here's links to a couple YouTube videos describing the whole thing better. Warning !!! the language on the second is on the rough side.


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## JPigg55 (Sep 23, 2017)

Here's another good info video.


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## Silverbullet (Sep 23, 2017)

It's only going to get worse. We all will be going back to coins and cks. History YA know repeats


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## Billh50 (Sep 23, 2017)

My credit is so bad they would be lucky if they got a dime using my info. They can only make it better.


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## GA Gyro (Sep 23, 2017)

IMO... it was only a matter of time... before something like this happened.

IMO the problem with a totally digital financial system... is the security of the digits...
And as we have so painfully seen... not everyone seems to care about security... they even appear to intentionally profit from the lack of security...

IMO there is nothing wrong with real money and checks... it is probably as close to an honest system as we are gonna get... (how about lets not discuss the Federal reserve... that would be a political discussion).


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## Billh50 (Sep 23, 2017)

Yeah and now they even have wireless pacemakers. Hope I'll stick with the ICD I have. Don't need some hacker getting into the ICD and have me flopping all over the ground


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## dlane (Sep 23, 2017)

Friend of mine in AR had a pace maker the doctor could call up by phone to check function/battery 
I used to tease him that a robo caller would call his pacemaker and demand a ransom.


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## GA Gyro (Sep 23, 2017)

Billh50 said:


> Yeah and now they even have wireless pacemakers. Hope I'll stick with the ICD I have. Don't need some hacker getting into the ICD and have me flopping all over the ground



There is no way I would have any gadget my health depended on (especially my life)... that was open to the internet or cell towers...
Now if I could do a BT scan, package the information in a secure file, and ship it to the doc... that would be fine...
However monitoring in real time... I can see the headlines now:  Mr Jones (random name) died from a pace-maker failure due to hacking... authorities are investigating who sent the hack signal that caused the failure. 

The internet is a great thing, as are cell phones...
However IMO some things should not be 'on line'...


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## GA Gyro (Sep 23, 2017)

This is kinda off subject:

Was talking to a customer (heating and AC... at his home)... his job is alarm and CCTV installer/tech.
He was telling me about a security glitch he found and plugged... at the local office of an investment broker (name to remain anonymous)... seems feeds from the CCTV were being viewed by someone in China... watching the screens of the brokers on CCTV, in real time.

I asked him how to absolutely stop that... he said to not have your home security system available to your cell phone in real time.
Thought about it for a bit... and decided the advantages of seeing my home in real time... were not worth the potential for anyone to see it... and the DVR (called an NVR if it is all digital) of the camera feeds would be adequate.  

Just a thought...


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## RJSakowski (Sep 23, 2017)

So Martha Stewart was sent to prison for acting on the advice of her stock broker and these three yahoos from Equifax delayed the release to the public of the security breach to more than 143 million Americans for six weeks so they could unload $2 million worth of  shares of Equifax stock and they claim they did nothing wrong?

Oh, and by the way, we are not the customers.  We are the product.


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## Superburban (Sep 23, 2017)

Even if you are possibly in the affected group, what are you going to do? The offer of 1 year free monitoring, is a joke. How much of the stolen data will expire, or be of no use to anyone after a year? The thieves could just sit on the info, and then in two years put it to use to steal money.

Our whole financial system is setup to welcome thieves. Accounts, especially credit, should require much more positive ID to open. And second, the way bank transactions needs to change.

all someone needs to get your money, is the bank routing numbers, and account number (the numbers on the bottom of your checks). Then they (Through a place that has access to the financial system) can tell your bank to transfer the money to them. I think that is backwards, it should be me telling the bank to give them, the money.


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## GA Gyro (Sep 23, 2017)

I am not sure if this is the answer...

I had frozen my credit last year... so hopefully that would help a little.

I have been thinking about changing banks (currently at one of the 4 mega's, no names)...
Seems to me if I were to get new bank accounts, new CC's (clear titles on house and cars)...
And I could change the PO Box #'s I get mail at... the guys at the local UPS store would accommodate me on this.
Then the information in the credit files would be more or less useless...  
Other than name, SS number, DOB, DL#, etc.  
Oh, and as I understand it... one 'can' request a replacement SS number... difficult... however this credit mess may well be a good reason.

Changing everything is probably gonna cause a hit to my FICA score... however I guess that is better than loosing a significant amount of assets.


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## Doubleeboy (Sep 24, 2017)

Our Data was compromised.  Our credit cards get compromised on regular basis.  No loss to us but a real pain in butt.  We have now frozen both of our credit history but it cost to do it.  We now check credit card accts daily.  Luckily the place where we keep most of our funds is very vigilant and calls us if anything looks suspect.


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## Tozguy (Sep 24, 2017)

Makes me miss the days when there was no credit. We had to pay cash or cheque. If you didn't have the funds you saved up until you did.


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## woodchucker (Sep 24, 2017)

JPigg55 said:


> Last night I learned about the Equifax security breech and wanted to see if people here were aware.
> Evidently, Equifax (one of the big 3 credit bureaus) was hacked. The hackers got the personal info of over 143 million Americans up to and including Social Security numbers, addresses, birthdays, credit card numbers, and credit history.
> From what I researched, the waited 6 weeks after they found the breech before announcing it. The timeline went something like this:
> Hacked in May, found out in July, and announced in September. In the time between finding out and announcing it, 3 of the top Execs (including the CFO) sold over $2 million in stock and someone (undisclosed) short sold a huge number of shares resulting in a $24 million gain. The execs claimed no knowledge of the hack when they sold their stocks...Oh really !!!
> Here's links to a couple YouTube videos describing the whole thing better. Warning !!! the language on the second is on the rough side.


It's called insider trading and they are guilty as sin. But probably nothing will come of it. The richest and powerful avoid getting held responsible.  I can't imagine they had no knowledge.  I'm sure they were part of the decision making on how to handle it.  Useless turds.


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## Tozguy (Sep 25, 2017)

Makes one wonder whether they sold the info but claimed it was hacked. Once we give out our info anything can happen to it and it is no longer ours. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.


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## cjtoombs (Sep 25, 2017)

The likelihood is that if you have ever applied for or had credit or a bank account, your information was stolen in the hack.  I've already frozen my and my wife's credit (for $60, which is in itself bogus).  After this hack, every person with a credit score should be locking them down, and they should be screaming to their congressman to force the credit reporting companies to do it for free.


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## dlane (Sep 25, 2017)

Afraid It's going to get way worse before it gets any better, after we got sold out to china.


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