Topic: Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every American

[Skhilled (OP)]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hackers-may-stolen-social-security-100000278.html

[Ken]

One of the best ways to guard against hackers is to freeze your credit report accounts, that stops anyone from using your info to make new accounts.

[Scrubmeister]

Ken is right. We did that years ago. ...........So far so good. 

[Skhilled (OP)]

Years ago, yes. That worked then. Now, all anyone needs is your phone number to know who you are, where you live, etc.

Your best bet now is to watch your bank account for suspicious activity and block payments and report it to the bank immediate! If you have a very good bank, they will halt payment on some things they deem as suspicious and ask you about it before allowing the payment to go through. You should also be able to get emails whenever any payment is pending or was paid.

My bank always halts payments for a few days and mark it as 'pending'...even my job paycheck. I can still draw on it but if something is wrong then I'm liable for it for not waiting for it to be approved.

EDIT: I've forgotten to mention, any old accounts that you no longer use, deleted your data and then the account. Any old email addresses...the same. Also, switch your email accounts to a good privacy based one that deletes trackers. You can also use a lot of other avenues to help secure your information.