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6 Steps Consumers Should Take Following a Hack

Steve Zurier

Without the luxury of an IT security team to help them after a breach or credit card compromise, consumers will want to keep these tips in mind.

Corporate employees typically have IT departments and security teams available to them when a breach takes place. But what about the everyday consumer? 

Anybody can be hacked or have a credit card compromised. According to Liz Lasher, vice president of fraud, financial crime and cyber risk at FICO, consumers can prevent that from happening just by taking better care of their passwords. She points to the recently released FICO Consumer Digital Banking study, which found only 42% of Americans said they use separate passwords to access multiple accounts and only 23% use a password manager.

"Consumers can report their incidents to the authorities, but they are better off taking practical, proactive steps to improve security," Lasher advises.

With that in mind, we've compiled a list of tips that consumers can use in the event of a breach, along with how to prevent future attacks. These tips also apply to anyone who runs a small business, or rank-and-file factory and retail workers who don't have corporate expense account jobs and access to highly trained security pros.

Steve Zurier has more than 30 years of journalism and publishing experience, most of the last 24 of which were spent covering networking and security technology. Steve is based in Columbia, Md. View Full Bio

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