Your Credit Score: How to Improve the 3-Digit Number That Shapes Your Financial Future, Fifth Edition

8. Identity Theft and Your Credit

Massive database breaches still make the headlines, but hacks that expose millions of people’s sensitive personal information have become distressingly routine.

The Target breach affected as many as 110 million customers whose credit and debit account numbers were stored in the retailer’s database. The Anthem breach exposed Social Security numbers and other data of 80 million current and former customers of the health insurer. The federal Office of Personnel Management had to notify more than 20 million people that their information had been compromised. The IRS, which pays out billions in phony tax refunds each year, had to temporarily shut down its transcript service after hackers successfully cleared security ...