Safeguarding Your Information from Recent Data Breach

In today’s digital age, protecting personal information is more important than ever. During the first half of August, it became public that a significant data breach affected nearly 2.9 billion records from a company called National Public Data (NPD). While this might sound alarming, there are practical steps you can take to safeguard your financial information and minimize any potential risks.

Keep an Eye on Your Accounts: Regularly checking your annual credit report, bank statements, and investment account statements is a simple yet effective way to ensure everything is in order. By staying aware, you can quickly spot and address any unusual activity.

Rest assured, your accounts that are managed by ACM and custodied at either Schwab or Fidelity are covered by each custodian’s Customer Protection Guarantee. Both institutions promise to both protect your personal information and accounts, and will reimburse accounts for any losses due to unauthorized activity. If you notice any such activity please both make us aware, as your financial advisors, as well as the custodian.

Consider a Credit Freeze: A credit freeze is a useful tool that can help prevent identity theft. When you freeze your credit, it adds an extra layer of protection by stopping new credit accounts from being opened in your name without your permission. Such a freeze does not affect any current our outstanding credit lines and can be easily “thawed” should you seek any new forms of credit.

Setting It Up: You can easily place a freeze with each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). This is best accomplished online as claiming the profile tied to your SSN, with a username and password, is also an important step in fraud avoidance.

Important Note: Electing a credit freeze with each bureau is FREE and does NOT require opting into any paid subscription-based models.

Of the three bureaus, Experian is particularly confusing as they have a paid credit monitoring service called “CreditLock”, which is NOT a credit freeze. To elect a freeze with Experian, navigate to the “Help Center”, under your profile icon. Once there, under the “Quick Actions” section click on “Manage Security Freeze” to opt into a credit freeze.

Managing the Freeze: Whenever you need to apply for new credit, like a mortgage, car loan, or credit card, simply lift the freeze, or schedule a “Credit Thaw”. Remember, you will need to do this for all THREE credit bureaus. Then, once your credit report is pulled you can refreeze your credit once more.

Minor Children: One final note on this topic, if you have minor children, is to elect a “Protected Consumer Freeze” on their behalf. This does have more complexity, given it is on behalf of another individual, but will protect your children’s credit profiles from undiscovered fraud. Further Information is contained within each of the following links for each credit bureau. (Minor Child Info: Equifax, Experian, and Transunion)

Stay Cautious with Emails: Phishing scams can be more common after a data breach. Be cautious with emails or messages that ask for personal information or contain unfamiliar links. A little extra vigilance can go a long way in keeping your information safe.

Taking these simple, practical steps can help you stay secure without adding unnecessary stress. If you have any questions or need assistance with any of these measures, we are here to help.

Advisors Capital Management, LLC is an investment advisor registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration does not imply any degree of skill or training. All investing carries risk, including the potential for the loss of principal and past performance is no guarantee of future results. This content is for informational purposes only, can change at any time without notice, and is not investment advice or a recommendation to trade any security. Indices are not available for direct investment. We only provide services in jurisdictions where we are registered. Our disclosure brochure (ADV Part 2A) and customer relationship summary (ADV Part 3) are available at https://adviserinfo.sec.gov and upon request.