Credit file: extra protections after extensive data leaks

DontReuseUserNamesAcrossSites

I, like most people reading this thread, have had our details leaked from government databases: Enough for identity theft. 

What are you going to do about it?

I'm thinking about using CIFAS to put a block on for 2 years because I don't think I'll need credit of any kind for 2 years. Is there a drawback to this?

I was initially going to put a note to say "DO NOT LEND unless applicant can sign a message saying approved to this cryptographic key" or "DO NOT LEND UNTIL 06/2024" when I hope there will have been epidemic ID thefts and better measures in place by then. 

400ixl

Nothing other than monitoring all of credit rile across all of the agencies, using unique email addresses and passwords for every site and non genuine answers to any challenge questions (all kept in a secure vault so I have them if I need them).

Until we bring in the US style of self service on being able to lock and unlock your CIFAS file it just isn't worth the hassle vs the risk at this point in time. I have no intention of taking out new credit, but may want to swap utility companies, or change my ISP or mobile provider, so if this is then hampered by something I have put in place then its not worth doing.

electriccactus

I think this has been massively misreported (from a UK standpoint at least)

There was an article a couple of months ago about this here https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/03/usdod_data_dump/

The important part is 

Judging by VX-Underground's assessment, the 277.1GB file contains nearly three billion records on people who've at least lived in the United States – so US citizens as well as, say, Canadians and Brits.

So it would appear that the records only affect those who have lived in the US. I did wonder how on earth a US company had obtained all this information about British citizens living in Britain, well it seems like they didn't.