NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — In light of one of the largest healthcare data breaches in history, we're digging beyond the headlines of the massive data breach surrounding hospital giant HCA.
Cybersecurity experts say everyone can freeze their credit reports to stay safe from hackers who might have your personal information. They say it's a step everyone can take, it's even more helpful to do it before becoming a cybercrime or identity theft victim.
"This one step will prevent cybercriminals from using your social security number to get a car, house, or something else that could be devastating," said Scott Augenbaum, former FBI agent and cybersecurity expert.
Here's how to freeze your credit reports:
Freezing your credit locks down your credit reports at the big three credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
That means, if a hacker has your personal information and tries to open up a credit card or get a mortgage or another loan in your name, the bank would likely deny the hacker's request because the bank can't see your credit.
You can freeze your credit on the three credit bureau websites:
Freeze your credit report with Experian.
Freeze your credit report with TransUnion.
Freeze your credit report with Equifax.
For each credit bureau, you'll need to create an account with them before freezing, but the account is free and sign-up only takes a few minutes on each site.
Once logged in, you can freeze your account from there: it kicks in within just a few minutes to an hour.
But what if you, not a cybercriminal, want to apply for a loan, mortgage or other line of credit?
For those instances, on the credit bureau websites you can temporarily open up your credit freeze — called a "thaw" — to allow a lender to look at your credit for a specific window of time.
Experts say the important thing to remember is you have to freeze your credit with all three bureaus separately, and doing so doesn't impact your credit score.
