The most important facts about data breach notices, in one place.
A data breach notice means a company believes someone who should not have it may have seen or taken your personal information.
The notice can come from a business, hospital, school, or government agency. It usually explains what happened, when it happened, and what kinds of information were involved, such as your name, Social Security number, medical records, or account numbers. Every state has a law that requires these notices.1
A notice does not mean your identity has been stolen. It means your information is at higher risk, and what you do in the next few weeks matters.
Watch for Fake Notices Scammers send letters and emails that look like real breach notices. Before you call a number or click a link, confirm the notice on the company's own website or your state attorney general's list of reported breaches.
After a data breach notice, save the letter, freeze your credit, change exposed passwords, and watch your accounts.
A credit freeze blocks new accounts, a fraud alert asks lenders to verify your identity, and credit monitoring warns you after a change appears.
Many People Use Both a Freeze and Monitoring Signing up for the monitoring a company offers usually does not give up your right to join a lawsuit, but read the terms before you enroll.
The right next steps depend on what the notice says was exposed.
Freeze your credit at all three bureaus and request an Identity Protection PIN from the IRS. The PIN stops anyone else from filing a tax return in your name.5
Read every explanation of benefits from your insurer and look for care you did not receive. Breaches affecting 500 or more people are listed on the federal health breach portal.6
Ask your bank or card issuer for a new account or card number, and watch your statements closely for several months.
Change the password right away, along with any other account that used it. A password manager makes it easy to use a different password everywhere.
If a company failed to protect your personal information, you may be able to join a data breach class action against it.
Companies that collect your information have a duty to protect it. When they fail to, a data breach class action lets everyone affected by the same breach bring one lawsuit together. Console & Associates, P.C. reviews data breach claims nationwide and can check whether a breach is one we are investigating.
Your breach notice letter is more than a warning, because it is often the proof that shows you were affected and may have the right to hold the company accountable.
Richard P. Console Jr., Esq., Console & Associates, P.C.
There's never a cost to you. The attorneys only get paid if the case wins. Time limits apply and vary by state, so it is better to ask sooner rather than later.
Short answers to what people most often ask after getting a breach notice.
Save the letter, then freeze your credit at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. After that, change any exposed passwords and check your accounts for activity you do not recognize.
Most are real, but scammers do copy them. Confirm the notice on the company's own website or your state attorney general's list of reported breaches before you call a number or click a link.
It is usually worth it, since it costs you nothing and warns you about changes to your credit report. It does not replace a credit freeze. Read the terms before you enroll.
You may be able to. Many data breaches lead to class actions on behalf of everyone affected. Console & Associates, P.C. reviews these claims nationwide, and there's never a cost to you.
Every fact on this page comes from these official and legal sources.