Data Leak in Capital One: What You Can Do After Bank Piracy

A data breach on Capital One servers in March, the personal information of nearly 106 million customers and bank applicants was revealed. The piracy, which included US and Canadian customers of the banking and credit card company, comes a week after the settlement between Equifax and the Federal Trade Commission piracy in 2017 that affected 147 million customers.

According to Capital One, the 22nd and 23rd of March 2019 offense allowed the hacker to access personal credit card application information from 2005 to early 2019 for consumers, claimants, and small businesses . Capital One detected the offense on July 19. Names, addresses, birth dates, credit scores, transaction data, social security numbers and badociated bank account numbers were among the personal data on display.

About 140,000 social security numbers and 80,000 linked bank account numbers were exposed, Capital One said. And for Canadian credit card customers and applicants, about 1 million Social Insurance Numbers. Capital One however stated that no credit card account number or login ID had been revealed in the hack.

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In response, Capital One stated that it would notify customers and credit card applicants whose data had been disclosed in the offense, and the Justice Department announced that it had indicted a Seattle engineer for the flight.

Here's how to find out if you've been affected by the Capital One data breach and what you can do to protect yourself.

How to know if your information has been stolen

Capital One indicated that it would contact by letter persons whose social security numbers or badociated bank account were part of the hack. Those concerned can probably expect to hear about the week of August 5th. At the moment, Capital One does not have a website allowing you to check for yourself, unlike the tool published by Equifax to see if you have participated in its data breach.

Be alert to e-mails and phone calls from fraudsters pretending to be Capital One or government officials requesting information about your credit card or account, social security number, or other personal information.

What does Capital One do about the hack?

Capital One said it corrected the exploit used by the hacker to access the data and collaborated with federal law enforcement to remedy this violation. The banking company indicated that it would address customers who were part of the piracy and would provide free credit monitoring and identity protection to customers affected by the breach.

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How to monitor your credit report in case of fraud

You do not have to wait for Capital One to contact you: you can take several steps now to deal with fraud.

Monitor your credit reports. You get a free credit report a year from the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. (Note that Equifax is recovering from its own data breach.) In your report, look for unusual or unknown activities, such as the appearance of new accounts that you have not opened. And keep an eye on your credit card accounts and bank statements for unanticipated charges and payments.

Sign up for a credit monitoring service. Choose a credit monitoring service who constantly monitors your credit report on major credit bureaus and alerts you when it detects unusual activity. To help you in monitoring, you can set fraud alerts that notify you if someone tries to use your identity to create credit. A A credit report service like LifeLock can cost between $ 10 and $ 30 a month. – or you can use a free service like Karma Credit. Capital One stated that it would provide free credit monitoring and identity protection to all affected customers.

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What if you think you are a victim of fraud or identity theft?

Once you suspect that your identity has been stolen, you can take steps to stop unauthorized charges and start recovering your identity.

Place a fraud alert. If you suspect fraud, place a fraud alert with each of the credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The alert informs creditors that you have been a victim of fraud and allows them to verify that you are actually making new credit applications on your behalf. You can place an initial fraud alert, which stays on your credit report for 90 days, or an extended fraud alert, which stays on your credit report for seven years. Placing a fraud alert does not affect your credit score.

Contact the fraud services. For each company and credit card company for which you think an account has been opened or debited without your knowledge, contact its fraud department. Although you are not responsible for fraudulent charges on an account, you must report suspicious activity quickly.

Freeze your credit. If you want to prevent anyone from opening a credit and applying for loans and services on your behalf without your permission, you can freeze your credit. You will need to request a freeze with each of the three credit reporting companies, namely Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. To apply for a new credit, you must unblock your credit, again, from each of the credit reporting companies. You can request a temporary lift of the freeze or unlock it permanently.

Document everything. Keep copies of all documents and expenses and recordings of your conversations on the flight.

Create a recovery plan. The Federal Trade Commission has a valuable tool that allows you to report identity theft and recover your identity through a personal recovery plan.