After Equifax Breach, Here’s Your Next Worry: Weak PINs
- 7 years ago
After Equifax Breach, Here’s Your Next Worry: Weak PINs
Dan Harrison, a Los Angeles media executive who is also a lawyer, said he already had a credit freeze, one
that he’d set up after a previous breach involving another company.
“I’m going to force them.”
On Sunday afternoon, in an emailed statement, an Equifax spokesman, Wyatt Jefferies, said
that no PINs had been compromised in the breach and that the company would soon be changing the PIN generation and reset request process.
They could not believe that Equifax and the other credit reporting firms, Experian and TransUnion, charge fees to freeze the credit files
that they had not asked the companies to set up in the first place.
“And then, they have this totally transparent algorithm for assigning them.”
This is among the worst of the facts that have emerged in the wake of the company’s announcement on Thursday
that thieves may have stolen up to 143 million Social Security numbers, dates of birth, names and addresses from its credit files.
But Experian’s site to set up an online freeze didn’t work at first, then kicked her to the snail mail option
because she didn’t put in the amount of her monthly mortgage payment correctly when the site attempted to identify her.
“They are going to have to change my PIN,” he said, adding
that it is the safety net of last resort for him and every other person who has had their personal information stolen.
Dan Harrison, a Los Angeles media executive who is also a lawyer, said he already had a credit freeze, one
that he’d set up after a previous breach involving another company.
“I’m going to force them.”
On Sunday afternoon, in an emailed statement, an Equifax spokesman, Wyatt Jefferies, said
that no PINs had been compromised in the breach and that the company would soon be changing the PIN generation and reset request process.
They could not believe that Equifax and the other credit reporting firms, Experian and TransUnion, charge fees to freeze the credit files
that they had not asked the companies to set up in the first place.
“And then, they have this totally transparent algorithm for assigning them.”
This is among the worst of the facts that have emerged in the wake of the company’s announcement on Thursday
that thieves may have stolen up to 143 million Social Security numbers, dates of birth, names and addresses from its credit files.
But Experian’s site to set up an online freeze didn’t work at first, then kicked her to the snail mail option
because she didn’t put in the amount of her monthly mortgage payment correctly when the site attempted to identify her.
“They are going to have to change my PIN,” he said, adding
that it is the safety net of last resort for him and every other person who has had their personal information stolen.