By now, you’ve heard about the massive hack that revealed nearly 3 billion records. The records contain names, dates of birth, addresses, and phone numbers of a wide swath of the population.
The worst part? It also contains Social Security Numbers.
So, how do you know if your information is included in the data that is now making its way around the dark web?
The smart folks at cybersecurity firm Pentester have compiled the database and made it searchable in seconds – no easy feat.
Enter your name, state, and year of birth here, and the search will instantly look for your info in the billions of records leaked online in this massive data breach. The search is free.
Pentester is a company that sells a $19 monthly service to clean up your online footprint of exposed usernames, passwords, addresses, and more. You don’t have to subscribe to the service to use the free SSN search. They also offer another – perhaps more eye-opening – search that reveals all your information online.
So, what to do if you find your SSN has been exposed?
Ryan Montgomery, founder of Pentester, told me you should freeze your credit reports.
Follow Tech Reporter Rich DeMuro for more helpful tech news, tips and reviews.
There are links at the bottom of the search results for Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. Freezing your credit is free and won’t affect your score, but it will put a roadblock between someone trying to open an account in your name. The freezing and unfreezing process can be done online.
