What To Do After Massive Data Breach?

(RTTNews) - As instances of corporate data breach widen and leave victims flabbergasted, BBB, a nonprofit entity, recommended some measures that customers need to adopt to safeguard their privacy.

The move comes against the backdrop of a data breach at Anthem Insurance that may have hurt millions of Americans. It is said that hackers broke into the Anthem database that held personal information of about 80 million customers and employees.

The breach is believed to have exposed names, birthdays, addresses and social security numbers - information that could be used for identity theft - but medical information or financial details like credit-card or bank-account numbers have not been exposed.

While Anthem has set up a separate website with information on the breach, BBB suggests customers strictly use Anthem's main website first and then follow the links from there; and for any company for that matter.

The advice by BBB, which focuses on advancing marketplace trust, comes in the wake of scammers exploiting data breaches and subsequent confusion to set up spoof websites, to send phishing emails.

BBB advises that in the event of personal identifying information being stolen, the victim must not have a "wait and see" attitude, but act swiftly as breaches involving Social Security numbers have the potential to be far more detrimental to victims.

It also advises customers to take a preemptive strike by freezing their credit reports and place a fraud alert on them.

One can also benefit from the free credit monitoring services Anthem will be offering to breach victims, BBB says. Although not a preventive step, this will alert customers to new accounts or inquiries using their SSN.

Anthem customers, and anyone for that matter, need to be alert to scammers who may take advantage of a data breach to send out phishing emails and other messages that appear to be from the company, a credit bureau or other legitimate companies.

BBB also advises all businesses, irrespective of their size, to ensure adequate security measures to protect customer data.