Louisiana leaders today say the data breach impacting agencies across the country and around the world only hit one data base in Louisiana, but it was a very big one.
"We have no reason to believe that data outside of what we've identified has been exposed," said Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director Casey Tingle. "Certainly the scale of the data in the OMV data is so large as to involve most Louisianans so that's the scope of what we're dealing with."
Tingle says some six million records were compromised, including all drivers license, vehicle registration and state ID info.
"I believe in excess of six million records, but that is duplicative because some people have both vehicle registration and drivers licenses, and so the simple answer there is everyone who had one of those likely had their data breached."
That includes names, addresses, driver's license numbers and Social Security numbers.
So what should you do? The Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness recommends taking the following steps immediately:
1: Prevent Unauthorized New Account Openings or Loans and Monitor Your Credit
2: Change All Passwords
3: Protect Your Tax Refund and Returns with the Internal Revenue Service
4: Check your Social Security Benefits
5: Report Suspected Identity Theft
Click here for more information.
Freezing your credit is one way to prevent fraudsters from trying to open acconts or take out loans in your name. It does not effect your credit score and can be unfrozen any time you need to apply for a new line of credit.
To freeze your credit, contact each of the three major credits bureaus, by phone or online:
Equifax: (800) 349-9960
Experian: (888) 397‑3742
TransUnion: (888) 909-8872
