Three major companies hit by data breaches: how to protect yourself

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — What do a car rental corporation, a lab testing provider, and a kidney dialysis firm all have in common? Data breaches.

In just the last week, the Hertz Corporation, Laboratory Services Cooperative (LSC) — which provides lab testing services to select Planned Parenthood centers — and DaVita all announced that they were victims of data breaches or data theft. Essentially, hackers or “threat actors” gained access to the companies’ systems and customer information, including names, contact information, dates of birth, credit card information, and Social Security numbers.

DaVita said it was the victim of a ransomware attack.

“Ransomware is the issue of malware or a virus that takes over your device, your computer, your company’s network, and it basically shuts it down, and it locks up or encrypts your data and your information,” Mike Moran, president of Columbus cybersecurity support firm, Affiliated Resource Group, said. “They expect you to pay to get access to it. So, if you think about it, they’ve kidnapped your data and they want you to pay a ransom.”

All three organizations said they’re working to identify and notify affected consumers. If you are or even suspect you could be one of those affected, it’s important to act quickly to protect your information from being used by one of these bad actors.

You can:

Freeze your credit with all three major credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. It’s free to do at any time and has no effect on your credit score.

Add fraud alerts to your accounts. If you have one on your credit file, businesses must verify your identity before extending any new credit or opening any new accounts in your name.