Vermonters air frustrations after Equifax breach

About 30 area residents attended a public hearing at the Town Hall Thursday afternoon to dialogue with Vermont legislators about data security concerns from June’s Equifax breach.

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Vermonters air frustrations after Equifax breach | November 09, 2017 By PATRICK ADRIAN padrian@eagletimes.com FacebookTwitterGoogle+Share SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — About 30 area residents attended a public hearing at the Town Hall Thursday afternoon to dialogue with Vermont legislators about data security concerns from June’s Equifax breach. A panel of state representatives, led by Rep. William Botzow of Bennington, say the House is scheduling town meetings throughout the state to hear citizen input and experiences in their ongoing work with Vermont’s consumer protection laws. In addition to the public hearing, officials from protection agencies provided information and resources available to Vermont residents to help secure and monitor their personal online information. The House initiative stems from events beginning on Sept. 7, when Vermont learned that personal data of 240,000 Vermonters was breached from credit reporting company Equifax in a massive security breach affecting over 143 million Americans. Information included social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and some driver’s license numbers and credit card information. Michael Pieciak, from the Vermont Department of Financial Regulations, warned citizens to remain vigilant. The data breached at Equifax is much greater in scope than those reported prior by Target and Home Depot, he says; when only credit and debit card information is taken, the threat ends once it’s reported to the bank. The information breached from Equifax, however, leads to identity theft. Preventing and protecting against data theft can be complex and frustrating, officials say. Chris Curtis from the Attorney General’s office, says his Public Protection Division has fielded over 700 calls to date from Vermonters. Many residents ask whether its safe to go to the Equifax website to check their status, or accept Equifax’s free one-year offer of services to affected consumers. While the terms and conditions initially appeared that accepting the offer might waive one’s rights to file a claim, Curtis said, he learned from the company directly that would not be the case. However, neither Curtis nor other officials can publicly vouch for the credibility of Equifax, especially given their failure to notify the public of the breach for over two months. Moreover, as both residents and officials pointed out, the conciliatory offer by Equifax to affected consumers does little to relieve their worries. While Equifax is waiving the industry standard $10 to freeze one’s credit report (and recommended to stop identity theft in new accounts), Equifax is just one of multiple national agencies. One would have to contact each individually, and pay the service fee each time. Curtis also reported many residents having trouble getting through to Equifax in order to freeze their report. Even then, Pieciak says that doesn’t protect one’s current accounts from theft. Once information is out there, one must monitor them for changes. That particular burden on the victims, having to continually monitor one’s accounts for changes, is an outrage to citizens. “What gets me is that I never gave any of these credit record companies permission to have my information,” said Kathy Giurtino of Chester, who along with her husband have endured data breaches prior to this latest Equifax event. In one case, a thief used her husband’s identity to file a fraudulent tax return, which took a year for the couple to finally resolve. “These [credit record companies] have a huge responsibility here,” Giurtino added. “They are making money off of us, and our information.” The majority of public input wished for these companies to own the responsibility for their mistakes. For Vermonter Bill Kearn, instead of the federal government, or Equifax, offering free credit reports, they should hire a trusted credit monitoring service. Others asked why, when one’s information is breached, he or she must initiate having the record frozen, rather than the company doing it automatically No officials, however, had that answer. New consumer protection bills are expected in the legislature next session, and at least one public endorsement for the help provided at Vermont’s Public Protection Division. People needing help with a reported data breach can find online information at www.consumer.vermont.gov or by calling 1 (800) 649-2424. Chris Curtis emphasized that all calls are received or returned.