Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2015 21:43:20 -0500
From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [WSFA] Report: Everyone Should Get a Security Freeze
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Note that I absolutely trust Krebs - think of him like, I dunno, Bernstein, or
Uncle Walter, on online security issues.

Excerpt:
This author has frequently urged readers to place a security freeze on
their credit files as a means of proactively preventing identity theft.
Now, a major consumer advocacy group is recommending the same: The U.S.
Public Interest Research Group (US-PIRG) recently issued a call for all
consumers to request credit file freezes before becoming victims of ID
theft.
<...>
Each time news of a major data breach breaks, the hacked organization
arranges free credit monitoring for all customers potentially at risk from
the intrusion. But as I\342\200\231ve echoed time and again, credit monitoring
services do little if anything to stop thieves from stealing your
identity. The best you can hope for from these services is that they will
alert you when a thief opens or tries to open a new line of credit in your
name.

But with a \342\200\234security freeze\342\200\235 on your credit file at the four major credit
bureaus, creditors won\342\200\231t even be able to look at your file in order to
grant that phony new line of credit to ID thieves.

Thankfully, US-PIRG \342\200\224 the federation of state public interest research
groups \342\200\224 also is now recommending that consumers file proactive security
freezes on their credit files.
--- end excerpt ---

<http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/11/report-everyone-should-get-a-security-freeze/>

A couple charge between $5 and $15; at least one doesn't charge at all.
Three of them you can call and get a person, the other lets you do it via
an automated system.

DO IT! And I'm saying this as my professional opinion, as security is part
of what I do for a living as a sysadmin.

         mark