Why Everyone in Wisconsin Should Lock Down Their SSN Right Now

I like to remain in denial about how much of my personal information is available on the dark web because I like to sleep at night. However, all of us including everyone in the state of Wisconsin needs to wake up because there's a good chance that everyone's social security number has already been stolen.

This is a complicated issue, but I'll break it down into some simple facts. As Yahoo News reported, there was a lawsuit that brought to light one of the biggest data breaches in history. There's a company called National Public Data. They do background searches. The class action lawsuit against them alleges that a massive data breach by hacker group USDoD compromised almost 3 billion individual social security numbers. Yes, that means every single human being in Wisconsin and virtually every other state, too, has their social security information in the hands of very bad people.

This only came to light due to the lawsuit, but the report says the social security information has allegedly been found for sale on the dark web already. For a mere $10, a villain can get your social security number and combine that with email addresses and other personal information to steal your identity.

Some experts say that if you think your information is being sold, it would be a good idea to freeze your information through the 3 main credit reporting agencies which can be done at no cost. Obviously, you'll need to unfreeze it if you need new credit issued. That's only something you should do with the assistance of a professional.

The bottom line is you deserve to know that your personal information is at risk. No matter who you are in Wisconsin, you need to be alert and keep an eye on your credit report and bank account.