Q: Over the past year, major companies like Facebook, T-Mobile and Marriott as well as companies in the promotional products industry have suffered data breaches. Is there a reason these are happening more frequently?
A: Bad guys are continually finding ways to stay ahead of everybody. As a result, you’re seeing more of these types of breaches and confidential information being traded on the dark web. Security issues just keep evolving.

Scott Grissom is the senior vice president and chief product officer at LegalShield, a North American corporation that sells legal service products through multi-level marketing. Grissom provides advice on what consumers and companies should look for in ID restoration/monitoring products and what they can do to protect their personal and business information from criminals.

Q: If your company is hacked, what’s the first thing you should do?
A: You should get corporate breach protection through your IT department. ID protection is very common as an employee benefit. Ask if your company has both. The provider will usually step in and offer additional protection. You can also get a free credit report. Check your bank account and credit card transactions. A lot of times criminals will wait to use your information. See if there’s anything unusual in your account.

Q: Can you be hacked without knowing?
A: Absolutely. If you don’t own ID protection service, you could go months and years without knowing your information has been taken. The same thing can happen to billion-dollar companies. In the news, they say how many accounts were exposed, but it’s difficult to know how many truly had their information taken. Other than it being in the news, you may never know the whole range of information that was taken. In the case of Facebook, it can be your home address, contacts, phone number, etc.

Q: Is there a way to inform clients and colleagues you’ve been hacked without losing their trust?
A: Companies have a responsibility to tell employees their information has been compromised. Marriott knew but didn’t tell its employees for quite some time. You need a tactical corporate response to get the information out there. Companies can do everything they can to address the problem, but it’s most important that they don’t wait to do it.

Q: What are some ways to protect yourself from data breaches?
A: Everyone needs some kind of protection. You can’t do it alone. You don’t have access to the dark web, so you’ll never know what’s on there. Many people freeze their credit and have it only unlocked when they apply for credit. That’s a great first step, but don’t confuse that with full protection; it doesn’t protect you from everything. Get identity protection. It’s affordable and will monitor all sorts of data sources and address changes. Also, don’t use your mother’s maiden name as a password because that’s used often and criminals will try to get a hold of it.