Jared Evans Global Microbrand

The word has gone out that there was a theft of a laptop containing the names, DOB, SSNs of 12,700 applicants to NTID and another 1,100 people at RIT. Notwithstanding the idiocy that allowed such data on a laptop in the first place, those who have applied to NTID (it doesn’t matter if you were a student or not) now have to get in touch with a major credit bureau to place a fraud alert upon your credit files.

If you go to this page at Equifax, you can fill out a simple one page form to start a 90-days fraud alert on your credit files. This was much more quick than calling them up and asking for a fraud alert. Equifax will also automatically notify the other major credit bureaus of the fraud alert so they will have it in their files too.

During the 90-days fraud alert, if there are any new accounts that are about to be opened under your name, the creditor will need to contact you first to get your permission before going ahead and setting up the account. Note that this doesn’t always happen since the law doesn’t require them to get in touch with you first but at least you’ll have a fighting chance to protect your credit files.