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NBC News Here's some information you need to know in case you become a victim of information leakage. That's when your information is compromised by a company you trust and work with.
Anita Greenhaus owns her own physical therapy clinic. She's used to taking steps to keep client and employee information private. That is one of the reasons she was so upset to open a letter stating her personal financial information had been compromised by another company.
Anita Greenhaus , Identity Leakage Victim: "I got a letter from Ameriprise that a laptop that had my account information was stolen from an ‘off site location'"
The letter, from Ameriprise financial was sent to 158 thousand customers, warning them about the possibility of having their account information fall into the wrong hands.
Anita Greenhaus , Identity Leakage Victim: "It means that somebody has my account information possibly with my protected information, social security, identification numbers, and its floating out there somewhere"
Ameriprise financial assured clients the theft was likely a random act and it was doubtful the information would even be found on the laptop, much less Decrypted and used.
The federal trade commission recently decided to address this type of information leakage.
If the stolen information includes your financial accounts,
- close compromised credit card accounts immediately.
- change passwords on other accounts.
- ask your bank to begin fraud monitoring.
If the stolen information includes your social security number, call the national credit reporting agencies and place an initial fraud alert on your credit reports to prevent an impostor opening accounts in your name.
If the stolen information includes your driver's license or other government-issued identification, contact the agencies that issued the documents. Follow their procedures to cancel a document and get a replacement. Also.. ask the agency to "flag" your file to thwart impostors.
