I’ve re-typed the same advice and links a few times now for various friends, so in the interest of saving time here‘s a blog post.

Quick takeaways:

• Equifax’s tool for checking whether you were affected has been notoriously flaky. If you’ve ever participated in the US banking/credit system, just assume your SSN, DOB, etc. was compromised.
• Changing online account passwords isn’t any more (or less) important now because of this particular breach.
• Signing up for Equifax’s free credit protection thing is better than nothing, I guess, but your personal info will now be floating around somewhere for the rest of your life, so a year of free credit monitoring is not worth a hell of a lot.
• If you sign up for credit monitoring, send a letter stating that you opt out of their arbitration clause. The company has said that clause doesn’t apply to this breach, but hey, it can’t hurt.
• Read at least the first link below.

Recommended reading:

• Brian Krebs: The Equifax Breach: What You Should Know
• Consumers Union’s Guide To Security Freeze Protection
• YSK: What your options for responding to Equifax are because if you’re an American adult you have almost definitely been compromised. (read with the caveat this is advice from Reddit)
• Patrick McKenzie: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

Concluding thoughts:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ this could be a very bad thing, and there’s not a lot you as a consumer can do about it. Fuck you, Equifax.