There is a good chance that your most sensitive data was stolen from Equifax. 143 million people had their data accessed by hackers. The breach occurred sometime in the May to July, 2017 time frame. For most people, the information accessed includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and addresses. This is enough information to have your identity stolen.

You can check to see if your data was accessed. It seems that Equifax will not send you a written notice unless your credit card number was taken or if you had a dispute letter that was accessed. So it is a good idea to check directly with Equifax to see if you have been impacted.

It is not clear who stole the data. Maybe the data was stolen by hackers for kicks, and a possible ransom. Maybe it was stolen by criminals to sell on the black market. Maybe it was stolen by a state entity with adverse interests to the United States. We just don't know for sure. In any case, it is an alarming situation and one that should cause you to consider taking steps to protect yourself.

There are credit monitoring services available. I do not believe that those types of services are strong enough to protect you in today's internet environment because they do not prevent criminals from using your personal information. Instead, they alert you after the fact. If someone has indeed used your information, then you have to go through the expense and time of correcting your record.

A better solution is to freeze your credit. As I wrote about at the beginning of the year, a credit freeze provides much greater protection for you because no one can use your credit report unless you "thaw" it. It is free for Colorado residents and $30 for Wyoming residents (i.e. $10 per major credit bureau.). To freeze your credit, contact each of the three credit bureaus:

Equifax

Experian

TransUnion

If someone has stolen your identity or otherwise used your personal information wrongfully, please feel free to contact Harmony Law for assistance.