Frankly, I operate with an assumption that all my financial details are available to anyone that wants them and that every interaction I have online is not actually anonymous. This means that I...
Frankly, I operate with an assumption that all my financial details are available to anyone that wants them and that every interaction I have online is not actually anonymous. This means that I regularly (daily) check for unauthorized financial transactions, credit inquiries, etc. Also means that when I post a message like this I understand that, if someone really wanted to, they could trace it to my real identity.
Make an account online with one of the credit bureaus, or request a paper copy of your credit report by mail. A soft inquiry won’t show, but a hard inquiry (as they do for car loans, when you get...
Make an account online with one of the credit bureaus, or request a paper copy of your credit report by mail. A soft inquiry won’t show, but a hard inquiry (as they do for car loans, when you get a new cell phone account, etc) will show.
Most banks that offer credit cards will offer some kind of free view into your credit at whatever bureau they use. Even if the score is kinda BS (many show you the Vantage score, even though a...
Most banks that offer credit cards will offer some kind of free view into your credit at whatever bureau they use. Even if the score is kinda BS (many show you the Vantage score, even though a FICO score is what's used for decision making), they'll still show what lines of credit you have open, what's been closed, etc. And most of them have the ability to give you email alerts, when an account is opened, closed, an inquiry is made, etc.
For example, I applied for a new credit card earlier this year and I immediately got alerts for the inquiry and the fact that an account was opened.
One thing I did this year at the recommendation of a friend, was to freeze my credit report. I signed up for a free account at each of the 3 major bureaus and froze my credit, at no cost. Now, if anyone tries to open an account in my name, they'll likely be blocked since the bank will be unable to pull the report and will likely decline the application. If I want to apply for a new loan or credit card, I go back to bureaus and can temporarily "thaw" my reports, so that they can be pulled. I think the only way they're not blocked is when already doing business with a bank because you have an account with them.
Nope, it's all free. I believe it's a US govt regulation to allow customers unlimited ability to freeze and unfreeze their reports as they need, for free. As just part of consumer protection. Just...
Nope, it's all free. I believe it's a US govt regulation to allow customers unlimited ability to freeze and unfreeze their reports as they need, for free. As just part of consumer protection.
Just gotta remember to unfreeze or thaw it out when you want to apply for a new credit card or loan, or even a new bank account. I missed out on some promotional free money for opening a new checking account earlier this year because I forgot to thaw my credit. I applied for the new account on the last day of the promo, but because my reports were frozen, the automated system couldn't make a decision. It then required human decision, even after I thawed my credit reports. And by that time, the promo had ended. No free money =(
Most Americans have very little choice but to provide their personal information to credit bureaus. Hackers have found a way into that data supply chain, and are advertising access in group chats used by violent criminals who rob, assault, and shoot targets.
I sort of assume that hackers can gain access to all of my information and data if they want to. My main safeguard against this is that I’m basically a ghost online, in that my real name doesn’t...
I sort of assume that hackers can gain access to all of my information and data if they want to.
My main safeguard against this is that I’m basically a ghost online, in that my real name doesn’t appear anywhere. I don’t do social media with my real name and haven’t for over ten years, i use an email address that can’t lead to my real name.. etc.
Is this realistic? Like if hackers never know who I am then they won’t start to try to hack into whatever? How do they choose a victim out of the billions of people on a list?
I'd love to live this way, but the reality is in personal and professional settings that some presence is expected. I've gotten 'wtf' reactions from not being on insta from prospective friends who...
I'd love to live this way, but the reality is in personal and professional settings that some presence is expected. I've gotten 'wtf' reactions from not being on insta from prospective friends who aren't security conscious. In roles where networking in and between organizations is part of your job description, an up-to-date and curated LinkedIn is practically mandatory for allowing yourself to be found and interacted with.
In the past criminals went after the highest reward or the lowest effort targets. Now low effort methods are applying to a broader and broader set of targets. Along with that our attack surfaces are larger, more porous, and more distributed.
The ideal method to preventing attack surface proliferation is to just stop providing data to 3rd-parties or severely limiting what is available. I don't have any good ideas though. Maybe forwarding addresses (e-mail/postal) unique to each 3rd-party? Ideally that'd break correlation/traversal vectors.
Frankly, I operate with an assumption that all my financial details are available to anyone that wants them and that every interaction I have online is not actually anonymous. This means that I regularly (daily) check for unauthorized financial transactions, credit inquiries, etc. Also means that when I post a message like this I understand that, if someone really wanted to, they could trace it to my real identity.
How do you check your credit inquiries?
Make an account online with one of the credit bureaus, or request a paper copy of your credit report by mail. A soft inquiry won’t show, but a hard inquiry (as they do for car loans, when you get a new cell phone account, etc) will show.
I use Credit Karma (at least until the Intuit acquisition screws this great service over).
I've been using Credit Wise. It's free. Not detailed, but at least gives a warning when things change.
They're normally reported on any credit reports you may generate for yourself
Most banks that offer credit cards will offer some kind of free view into your credit at whatever bureau they use. Even if the score is kinda BS (many show you the Vantage score, even though a FICO score is what's used for decision making), they'll still show what lines of credit you have open, what's been closed, etc. And most of them have the ability to give you email alerts, when an account is opened, closed, an inquiry is made, etc.
For example, I applied for a new credit card earlier this year and I immediately got alerts for the inquiry and the fact that an account was opened.
One thing I did this year at the recommendation of a friend, was to freeze my credit report. I signed up for a free account at each of the 3 major bureaus and froze my credit, at no cost. Now, if anyone tries to open an account in my name, they'll likely be blocked since the bank will be unable to pull the report and will likely decline the application. If I want to apply for a new loan or credit card, I go back to bureaus and can temporarily "thaw" my reports, so that they can be pulled. I think the only way they're not blocked is when already doing business with a bank because you have an account with them.
Do you have to pay to unfreeze them? Or is there a limit or any restriction on how often you can freeze and unfreeze?
Nope, it's all free. I believe it's a US govt regulation to allow customers unlimited ability to freeze and unfreeze their reports as they need, for free. As just part of consumer protection.
Just gotta remember to unfreeze or thaw it out when you want to apply for a new credit card or loan, or even a new bank account. I missed out on some promotional free money for opening a new checking account earlier this year because I forgot to thaw my credit. I applied for the new account on the last day of the promo, but because my reports were frozen, the automated system couldn't make a decision. It then required human decision, even after I thawed my credit reports. And by that time, the promo had ended. No free money =(
summary
I sort of assume that hackers can gain access to all of my information and data if they want to.
My main safeguard against this is that I’m basically a ghost online, in that my real name doesn’t appear anywhere. I don’t do social media with my real name and haven’t for over ten years, i use an email address that can’t lead to my real name.. etc.
Is this realistic? Like if hackers never know who I am then they won’t start to try to hack into whatever? How do they choose a victim out of the billions of people on a list?
I'd love to live this way, but the reality is in personal and professional settings that some presence is expected. I've gotten 'wtf' reactions from not being on insta from prospective friends who aren't security conscious. In roles where networking in and between organizations is part of your job description, an up-to-date and curated LinkedIn is practically mandatory for allowing yourself to be found and interacted with.
In the past criminals went after the highest reward or the lowest effort targets. Now low effort methods are applying to a broader and broader set of targets. Along with that our attack surfaces are larger, more porous, and more distributed.
The ideal method to preventing attack surface proliferation is to just stop providing data to 3rd-parties or severely limiting what is available. I don't have any good ideas though. Maybe forwarding addresses (e-mail/postal) unique to each 3rd-party? Ideally that'd break correlation/traversal vectors.